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Raisin Wine with Cider

A fermented wine made by steeping raisins in cider, then adding brandy, sugar candy, and lemon rind, and aging for years.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and brandy work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Raisin Wine with Cider

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fermentation

  1. Remove the raisins from the stalks and halve them.

  2. Put the raisins into a 9-gallon cask and pour the cider over them.

  3. Bung lightly for 5 or 6 days.

Age and clarify

  1. Tighten the bung and let the cask stand for 6 months.

  2. Strain the liquid into another cask through a jelly-bag or fine muslin until clear.

  3. Add the brandy, crushed sugar candy, and finely pared lemon rind.

  4. Keep the wine well bunged for 2 years.

Bottle and store

  1. Bottle, cork, and seal securely.

  2. Store in a cool, dry place for 1 year before use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cider + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cider + raisintop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together588 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Raisins
Provide sugar and fruit flavour that ferment into the wine's body and character.
Cider
Supplies the liquid and fermentable sugars that turn into alcohol.
French brandy
Raises the alcohol content and helps preserve the wine during long storage.
Sugar candy
Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the fermented wine.
Lemon rind
Adds aromatic citrus oils that brighten the wine's flavour.

The step that matters

Bung lightly for 5 or 6 days. Early fermentation produces carbon dioxide that must escape. A tight bung too soon can build pressure and burst the cask, while a loose seal lets air in. Keep the bung loose only during the active stage, then tighten it.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, raisin, brandy, sugar):

  1. Applefits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Currantfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, raisin, brandy, sugar. 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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