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 ↓
Elder-Wine, to Drink Cold
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
Pick and chop the raisins very small.
Boil the sugar and water together for 15 minutes.
Pour the boiling mixture over the raisins and stir well.
Let it stand for 7-8 days, stirring daily.
Strain the liquid and press out the raisins.
Ferment
Add 1 pint of elder-berry juice for each gallon.
Spread a little ale yeast on a piece of toast and add it to the mixture.
Let it ferment for 2-3 days.
Transfer to a barrel, leaving room for fermentation.
Seal the barrel and let it sit until clear and the sweetness has diminished.
Bottle the wine.
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 + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 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
- Malaga raisins
- Provide the fermentable sugars and body that the yeast converts into alcohol.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds fermentable sugar that feeds the yeast and sets the wine's sweetness.
- Ale yeast
- Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
- Elder-berry juice
- Adds flavour and colour to the wine.
The step that matters
Leave room in the barrel for fermentation. Fermenting yeast releases carbon dioxide, which makes the mixture foam and expand. Without headspace, the liquid can overflow or force the seal, and the wine may spoil or be lost.
“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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