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 ↓
Excellent Ginger Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the liquor
Combine 10 gallons of water and 12.5 pounds of lump sugar in a large boiler.
Beat the whites of 6-8 eggs.
Strain the beaten whites.
Mix the strained whites into the water and sugar while cold.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Skim off any foam.
Add ½ pound of bruised white ginger.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Pour the hot mixture over the thin rinds of 10 lemons.
Let the mixture cool.
Ferment and age
Stir in 2 tablespoons of yeast.
In a separate bowl, mix 1 quart of the liquor with 2 ounces of isinglass shavings while warm.
Combine everything in a barrel.
Seal the barrel.
Let it sit for 3 weeks before bottling.
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.
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Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Lump sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the sugar that the yeast converts into alcohol.
- Whites of eggs
- Beaten whites are strained into the cold liquor to help clarify it as they are removed with the foam.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide during aging in the barrel.
- Isinglass shavings
- A fining agent that helps clear the wine by settling out suspended particles.
- White ginger
- Adds the spicy aroma and flavor that defines the wine.
The step that matters
Skimming off the foam after boiling. Foam carries coagulated egg white and impurities that should be removed so the wine clears and tastes clean rather than cloudy or off-flavored.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Dillfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, 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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