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 wine
In a large pot, combine water, sugar, bruised ginger, and beaten egg whites.
Boil the mixture for 1 hour, skimming off any scum that rises.
Transfer the mixture to a tub and let it cool.
Once cool, add lemon rinds, lemon juice, and brandy to the tub. Sprinkle yeast on top and seal the container tightly.
Bottle and rest
After 2 weeks, bottle the ginger wine.
It will be ready to use in another 2 weeks.
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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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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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).
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 sweetness and the sugar that the yeast ferments into alcohol.
- Egg whites
- When boiled, they coagulate and collect scum, which is skimmed off to clarify the wine.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright flavour that balances the sweetness.
- Bruised ginger
- Releases aromatic compounds into the liquid, giving the wine its ginger flavour.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
The step that matters
Skimming the boiling mixture. Egg whites coagulate and carry impurities to the surface as scum. Removing it during the hour-long boil keeps the wine clear and clean-tasting.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, lemon, 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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