Why it works: Sugar and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Excellent Ginger Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Clarify the liquid
Combine water, sugar, and beaten egg whites in a large boiler and mix well while cold.
Bring the mixture to a boil, skimming off any foam.
Flavor with ginger
Add the bruised ginger and boil for 20 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + gingertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,337 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 sweetness and the main body of the liquid.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate when heated and trap impurities so they rise as foam to be skimmed off, clarifying the liquid.
- Common white ginger
- Adds its spicy aroma and flavor to the liquid.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam while bringing to a boil. As the egg whites heat, they coagulate and carry impurities up into the foam. If this foam is not skimmed off before the ginger is added, it stays in the liquid and makes the final wine cloudy and less clear.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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
Ginger Pop22 recipes
Ginger Beer11 recipes
Ginger Tea9 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 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.