Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Peppermint
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Combine 13 gallons of rectified malt spirit, 15 pennyweights of oil of peppermint, 12 pounds of loaf sugar, and 1½ pints of spirit of wine in a large container.
Fill the container with water to reach the desired volume.
Fine the liquor
To fine the liquor, boil 2 ounces of alum in a little water for 30 minutes.
Gradually add 1 ounce of salt of tartar to the cooled alum mixture.
Pour the mixture into the cask and stir well for 5 to 6 minutes.
Rest
Do not seal the cask tightly until the liquor is fine.
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.
-
Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together701 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
-
Peppermint + winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together369 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Spirit + pepperminttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Malt + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together325 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Spirit + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together602 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
- Rectified malt spirit
- Forms the alcoholic base that carries the peppermint flavour through the liquor.
- Oil of peppermint
- Supplies the main aroma and flavour of the liqueur.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the sharpness of the alcohol and mint.
- Spirit of wine
- Adds alcohol strength and helps keep the peppermint oil dissolved.
The step that matters
Leave the cask unsealed until the liquor is fine. Fining works by letting suspended particles bind and settle out of the liquid, which takes time. Sealing the cask too early traps the haze, so the liquor may stay cloudy.
Swap the peppermint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, spirit, sugar, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Rosemaryfits about as well
- Peppermintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against malt, spirit, sugar, wine. 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.
You might also like
Wine Whey111 recipes
Raisin Wine64 recipes
Egg Wine58 recipes
Elderberry Wine51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.