Name: Raisin Wine
Ingredients: 2 pounds raisins, seeded and chopped; 1 pound white loaf sugar; 1 lemon; 6 quarts boiling water

Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raisin Wine

Ingredients

2 pounds raisins, seeded and chopped
1 pound white loaf sugar
1 lemon
6 quarts boiling water

Directions

Combine raisins, sugar, and lemon in a stone jar.
Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir daily for one week.
Strain the mixture and bottle it.
Ready for use in 10 to 12 days.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Raisins: Provide the sugars and fruit flavour that the fermentation turns into the wine's body.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Lemon: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness of the raisins and sugar.