Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raisin Wine Without Cyder
Ingredients
Directions
Ferment
Pour the spring water over the raisins and stir well daily for 14 days.
Squeeze the raisins in a horse-hair bag using a press to extract the liquid.
Transfer the liquid into a cask and seal it tightly when it stops bubbling.
Age and bottle
After 6 months, rack the wine into another cask or tub, leaving sediment behind.
Do not wash the original cask; return the wine to it.
Add 1 gallon of brandy, seal it tightly, and bottle the wine after another 6 months.
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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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Malagas raisins
- Provide the sugar and fruit flavour that the wine is made from.
- Spring water
- Dissolves the raisin sugars and carries flavour, forming the base liquid for fermentation.
- Brandy
- Added after fermentation to raise the alcohol content and stabilise the finished wine.
The step that matters
Sealing the cask when bubbling stops. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide while yeast works. Sealing too early can trap gas and build pressure, while sealing too late lets air in and invites spoilage. Racking off sediment keeps the wine clear.
“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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