Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar, beaten egg whites, and spring water for 1 hour, skimming as needed.
Ferment
When nearly cold, add orange juice and rinds, and ale yeast.
Let it stand for 2 days.
Transfer to a cask.
Add the lemon mixture and bottle
Mix white wine, lemon juice, and loaf sugar.
Cover for 12 hours, ensuring no seeds remain.
Add this mixture to the cask with 6 lemon rinds.
Let it stand for 14 days before bottling.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Orange + white winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together730 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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
- Lump sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the sugar that the yeast ferments into alcohol.
- Ale yeast
- Ferments the sugars, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide in the wine.
- Seville oranges
- Supply the orange juice and rinds that give the wine its characteristic citrus aroma and flavour.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and bright citrus flavour to the wine.
- Egg whites
- Bind impurities to the surface when boiled, so they can be skimmed off to clarify the syrup.
The step that matters
Skimming the boiled syrup. Egg whites coagulate and carry impurities to the surface as the syrup boils. Removing them as they form keeps the liquid clear and free of off-flavours.
“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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