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Drink

Ginger Wine

A fermented beverage made from water or cider, sugar, ginger, lemon zest and juice, raisins, yeast, isinglass, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ginger Wine

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil water or cider with sugar, ginger root, and lemon zest for 30 minutes.

  2. Let the mixture cool, then transfer to a clean, dry cask.

  3. Add lemon juice, raisins, and yeast; stir daily for 10-12 days.

  4. When fermentation stops and froth subsides, dissolve isinglass and add to the mixture along with brandy.

  5. Seal the cask tightly and let it sit for 2 months.

  6. After 2 months, taste the wine; if too sweet, let it sit longer.

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. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

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 and provides the wine's sweetness and body.
Yeast
Converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the fermentation.
Ginger root
Adds the spicy, aromatic flavour that defines the wine.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sugar.
Raisins
Contribute fruity sweetness and nutrients that support the fermentation.
Isinglass
Fining agent that helps clear the wine by settling out suspended particles.

The step that matters

Adding the isinglass after fermentation stops. Isinglass is a fining agent that clears the wine only once the active fermentation has settled. Adding it while the yeast is still working can disturb the process and leave the wine cloudy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Applefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, sugar, ginger, raisin, 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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