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Rhubarb Wine

A fermented beverage made from rhubarb, water, sugar, lemon, isinglass, and optional brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Rhubarb Wine

Why it works: Rhubarb and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 546 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Rhubarb Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rhubarb

  1. Wipe the rhubarb with a wet cloth and bruise it well using a flat-iron.

  2. Place the bruised rhubarb in a tub and pour over 10 gallons of water.

  3. Let it sit for 9 days, stirring 2-3 times a day.

Make the wine

  1. Strain off the liquid and add 3 pounds of sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind for each gallon.

  2. Transfer to a cask with 2 ounces of isinglass and leave it unstopped for 1 month.

  3. After a month, seal the cask and store it in a cool, dry place for 12 months before bottling.

  4. Optionally, add a little brandy to the wine.

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.

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.

  1. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,852 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + brandytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Rhubarb
Provides the main flavour and acidity that give the wine its character.
Loaf sugar
Provides sweetness and feeds the fermentation that turns sugar into alcohol.
Isinglass
Helps fining, drawing suspended particles down so the wine clears.

The step that matters

Leaving the cask unstopped for the first month. An unsealed cask lets the active fermentation release gas and keeps air contact controlled. Sealing too early can trap pressure and off-flavours, while the long rest afterward lets the wine clear and mellow.

Swap the rhubarb

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Rhubarbthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, 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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