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
Make the liquor
Boil water, sugar, ginger, hops, and lemon or orange rinds together for 2 hours, skimming carefully.
Pour the mixture, without straining, onto the raisins.
When cool, add the juice of the lemons or oranges.
Ferment and fine
Rinse the pulp in 1-2 pints of the wine and strain it into the mixture.
Ferment with yeast by mixing ¼ pint of solid yeast with 1-2 pints of the wine, then combine with the rest.
The next day, combine the mixture with the raisins, hops, ginger, and fill it up for 2 weeks with wine or good new beer.
Dissolve 3 ounces of isinglass in a little wine and return it to the rest to fine it.
After a few days, seal it tightly.
Rest and bottle
This wine will be ready in 6 months and may be bottled, but it can be fizzy.
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.
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Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and ginger 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
- Loaf sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the food that yeast turns into alcohol.
- Raisins
- Add body, sweetness and nutrients that feed the fermentation.
- Bruised ginger
- Supplies the spicy aroma and flavour that defines the wine.
- Solid yeast
- Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Isinglass
- Clarifies the wine by drawing suspended particles out so it settles clear.
The step that matters
Sealing after fermentation settles. Sealing too early can trap carbon dioxide and cause fizziness or bottle pressure, while sealing too loosely lets air in and spoils the wine. The record notes it may be fizzy, so the cook should watch the fermentation before bottling.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, hops, lemon):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Peachfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, hops, lemon. 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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