Name: Exquisite Orange and Lemon Wines, Made with Honey and Raisins
Ingredients: 8 gallons soft water; 1 pound Malaga raisins; 1 Seville orange or lemon; 2 pounds honey; ½ ounce white argol or tartar; 1 pound powdered loaf sugar; rinds of 12 Seville oranges

Why it works: Orange and honey are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,068 recipes. Both carry pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Exquisite Orange and Lemon Wines, Made with Honey and Raisins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquor

Boil 8 gallons of soft water until reduced to 5 gallons.
Let the water cool for a few minutes.
Pour the hot water over the rinds and raisins in a large tub or pan.
Stir well and cover; let it rest until cold.

Ferment

Stir twice daily for 5 days, covering each time.
On the sixth day, strain through a fine sieve, pressing the mixture dry.

Age and bottle

In a barrel, combine the strained mixture with the rinds of 6 more oranges and a syrup made from the juice of 18 oranges and 1 pound of sugar.
Stir well, seal tightly, and let it stand for 2 months to clear.
Bottle the wine; it will keep for 3 years.

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.

Orange + honeytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,068 recipes

Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).
Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,684 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Honey + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,932 recipes

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

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Malaga raisins: Supply fermentable sugars and fruity body for the yeast to work on.
Honey: Adds fermentable sugar and sweetness, and rounds out the wine's flavour.
Orange rinds: Release aromatic oils that give the wine its citrus aroma and bitter edge.
Powdered loaf sugar: Provides fermentable sugar and sweetness, adding alcohol and body.
White argol or tartar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps keep the wine stable.