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Drink

Ginger Wine

A fermented beverage made from ginger, cayenne pepper, tartaric acid, burnt sugar, loaf sugar, boiling water, and brewer’s yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ginger Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pour boiling water over all ingredients and let cool.

  2. Once cool, place a piece of toast with the yeast on top into the mixture.

  3. Allow to stand overnight.

Ferment

  1. Remove the toast and pour the mixture into a small cask.

  2. Allow to ferment for 3 days, filling the cask as it overflows.

  3. Place in a warm area for 3 weeks, corking lightly at first, then secure the bung tightly.

Age and bottle

  1. Let it stand for 2 months before bottling.

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. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ginger and sugar 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

Strong essence of ginger
Provides the main ginger flavour and aroma of the wine.
Cayenne pepper
Adds sharp heat and a spicy bite to the finished drink.
Tartaric acid
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
Burnt sugar
Adds deeper caramel colour and a toasty, bittersweet flavour.
Loaf sugar
Supplies the sweetness and the sugar that yeast converts into alcohol.
Brewer’s yeast
Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide during the fermentation stage.

The step that matters

Corking lightly, then securing the bung tightly. Fermentation gives off carbon dioxide, so the cask must be lightly corked at first to let gas escape. Sealing it too early can build pressure and risk bursting the cask or forcing the bung out. A tight seal later keeps air out as the wine matures.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar. 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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