Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Raspberry or Currant Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove any moldy or bad fruit from the raspberries or currants.
Bruise the fruit.
Combine the bruised fruit with 1 quart of water.
After 24 hours, strain the liquid.
Add 1 pound of sugar for each quart of liquid.
For white currants, use lump sugar.
Place the mixture in a large pan.
Remove any scum that rises after 3-4 days.
If you don't have enough fruit, add more as it ripens, keeping track of the amounts.
Soak 5 quarts of currants and 1 pint of raspberries in 2 gallons of water overnight (alternative method).
Squeeze and break the fruit well.
Strain the fruit through a fine sieve to extract all the juice.
Wash the skins with some of the soaking water.
Add 4 pounds of very good Lisbon sugar to every gallon of juice. Mix well.
Barrel and age
Immediately transfer the mixture to a barrel.
Lightly place the bung on top of the barrel.
Do not use anything to work the barrel.
After 2-3 days, add 1 bottle of brandy for every 4 gallons.
Seal the barrel.
Leave the peg out for a few days.
Let it age for 3 years for a fine wine; 4 years will improve it further.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Raspberries or currants
- Provide the fruit flavour, aroma and acidity that define the wine.
- Lisbon sugar
- Feeds the fermentation and sweetens the finished wine.
- Brandy
- Added later to stop fermentation and fortify the wine.
The step that matters
Adding the brandy. Brandy added too early can halt fermentation before the sugar is used, while adding it at the planned point after fermentation has started stabilizes the wine.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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