Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Ginger Beer
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brew
Boil 9 quarts of water with 6 pounds of lump sugar, the rinds of 2-3 thinly pared lemons, and 2 ounces of bruised white ginger for 30 minutes.
Skim the mixture and add ¾ pound of raisins to the cask.
When the mixture is lukewarm, add the strained juice of 2 lemons and 1½ tablespoons of yeast.
Ferment and bottle
Stir daily, then add ½ pint of brandy and ½ ounce of isinglass shavings.
Stop it up and bottle it after 6-7 weeks.
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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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lump sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the food the yeast ferments into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar, producing the alcohol and fizz that define the drink.
- White ginger
- Adds the sharp, spicy aroma and flavour that gives ginger beer its character.
- Raisins
- Add fermentable sugars and fruit flavour, helping the brew start working.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavour.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol and aroma, and helps keep the finished drink stable.
The step that matters
Adding the yeast when the mixture is lukewarm. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid, so adding it while the mixture is still hot can stop fermentation before it starts. Waiting until the liquid is only lukewarm lets the yeast survive and begin converting the sugar.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, raisin, brandy):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, raisin, 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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