Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Currant or Gooseberry Wine Without Boiling
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
Bruise the fruit.
Mix the bruised fruit with 25 quarts of water. Stir well.
Let it stand for 12 hours.
Strain the mixture through a coarse canvas bag or hair sieve.
Add 56 pounds of sugar to the strained liquid. Stir well.
Put the pulp of the fruit into 1 gallon of water. Stir the mixture.
Let it stand for another 12 hours.
Strain this mixture into the previous one. Stir again.
Cover the tub with a sack.
Skim off the yeasty froth. Continue skimming daily until no more yeast forms.
Cask and finish
Transfer the wine into a cask.
Reserve some pulp to fill it up as needed.
Mix 1 quart of brandy with 1 pound of honey. Pour the mixture into the cask.
Seal the bung-hole with stiff brown paper.
Check weekly for any burst paper. Replace the paper until the wine remains clear and dry.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Brandy + honeytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together169 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Currant + honeytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Sugar + honeytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,932 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Currants or gooseberries
- Provide the fruit flavour, acidity and the juice that ferments into wine.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast, which turns it into alcohol, and sets the final sweetness.
- Brandy
- Raises the alcohol level, helping to stabilise the wine against further fermentation.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and body, and supports the fermentation along with the sugar.
The step that matters
Skim off the yeasty froth daily. Froth that forms on the fermenting must can carry spoilage organisms and off-flavours. Removing it daily keeps the wine clean until fermentation slows and no more yeast forms.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, honey):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, honey. 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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