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Orange Wine

A fermented orange wine made with sugar, water, orange peels, juice, yeast, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 whites of 6 eggs.

  2. Pour the boiling mixture over the orange peels.

Ferment

  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.

Age

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

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

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

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

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

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
Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and adding sweetness to the finished wine.
Fresh yeast
Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the wine's fermentation.
Orange juice
Adds acidity and fresh citrus flavor, and supplies sugars for fermentation.
Orange peels
Contribute aromatic oils and bitter-citrus flavor as the syrup steeps over them.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content and adds a spirited warmth to the finished wine.

The step that matters

Strain into the barrel and loosely seal it. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide gas. A loose seal lets the gas escape so pressure does not build up in the barrel while the wine ferments.

Swap the orange

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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