Name: Ginger Wine.
Ingredients: ½ ounce ginger essence; ¼ ounce capsicum; 1 tablespoon tartaric acid; 1 teaspoon burnt sugar; 2 lbs granulated sugar; 1 pint hot water; ¼ gallon cold water

Why it works: Ginger and capsicum are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,890 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ginger Wine.

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the sugar and tartaric acid in hot water.
Add the ginger essence, capsicum, and burnt sugar.
Mix well and then add the cold water.
Pour the mixture into bottles and cork them.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Ginger + capsicumtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,890 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together14,054 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Capsicum + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,560 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar: Provides sweetness and the sugar that gives the drink its body.
Tartaric acid: Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavour.
Ginger essence: Supplies the main ginger flavour and aroma.