Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raisin Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Combine 1 gallon of boiled water with 6 pounds of Malaga raisins in a large container.
Let the mixture stand for 13 to 14 days, stirring it twice a day.
After 14 days, strain the mixture and transfer it to a cask.
Reserve some liquid to refill the cask as it ferments over the next two months.
Do not close the cask until fermentation has completely ceased.
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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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Malaga raisins
- Supply the sugars that yeast ferments into alcohol, and body to the wine.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and provides extra sugar for fermentation to convert into alcohol.
- Lemon rinds
- Add aromatic oils that give the wine a bright citrus fragrance and flavour.
The step that matters
Leave the cask unclosed until fermentation has completely ceased. Active fermentation releases carbon dioxide gas. A sealed cask can build up pressure and burst or push out its bung, so the vessel must stay open to gas until the bubbling stops.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, 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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