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Drink

Orange Wine

A fermented beverage made from sugar, water, egg whites, orange peels, orange juice, yeast, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,706 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Orange Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar and water together, then clarify with the egg whites.

  2. Pour the boiling mixture over the orange peels.

Ferment and age

  1. Add the strained juice of the oranges and the fresh yeast.

  2. Let it ferment for 3 to 4 days.

  3. Strain the mixture into a barrel and loosely seal it.

  4. After one month, add the brandy if desired.

  5. The wine will be ready to drink in three months.

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.

  1. Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Sugar
Provides sweetness and the sugar that yeast converts into alcohol during fermentation.
Fresh yeast
Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the fermentation.
Egg whites
Clarify the syrup, binding impurities so they can be removed for a clearer wine.
Orange peels
Contribute aroma and flavour from the oil in the zest.
Orange juice
Adds fruit flavour, acidity and the fermentable sugars that feed the yeast.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling mixture over the orange peels. Heat releases the aromatic oils from the peel into the liquid, but the syrup must be cooled to a safe temperature before yeast is added later so the yeast is not killed.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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