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Syrups, Liqueurs, Etc

A sweet liqueur made from water, sugar, lemon rinds, ginger, raisins, yeast, isinglass, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Syrups, Liqueurs, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine 14 quarts of water and 12 pounds of sugar in a large container.

  2. Add the lemon rinds, ginger, juice of 6 lemons, and ½ pound of raisins.

  3. Stir in 1 large spoonful of thick yeast and stir the mixture daily for 10 days.

Clarify and age

  1. Once fermentation has ceased, add 1 ounce of isinglass and 1 pint of brandy.

  2. Seal the container tightly and let it sit for 2 months before bottling.

  3. If the wine is too sweet, allow it to remain in the cask longer.

  4. For a superior wine, substitute cider for the water if available.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Sugar
Feeds the yeast and provides the sweetness and alcohol that develop during fermentation.
Yeast
Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the whole fermentation.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright citrus flavour that balances the sweetness.
Ginger
Contributes a warm, spicy aroma and flavour to the liqueur.
Isinglass
Clears the liquid by helping suspended particles settle out after fermentation.

The step that matters

Stopping fermentation before adding isinglass and brandy. Yeast must have finished fermenting before the brandy is added; adding spirit too early can halt fermentation unpredictably and leave the liqueur sweet, cloudy, or unstable. Waiting until activity has clearly ceased gives a more predictable result.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, raisin, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. 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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