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
Crush the fruit and mix it with 25 quarts of water.
Stir well and let it stand for 12 hours.
Strain the mixture through a coarse canvas bag or hair sieve into a large container.
Add 56 pounds of sugar to the strained liquid and stir well.
Take the pulp of the fruit, add 1 gallon of water, stir, and let it stand for another 12 hours.
Strain this mixture into the first container, stirring again, and cover with a cloth.
Ferment and skim
After a day or two, the wine will begin to ferment.
Skim off the thick yeasty froth as it forms.
Continue skimming for several days until no more yeast forms.
Cask and age
Transfer the wine into a cask, reserving a small amount to top it off as needed.
If adding brandy, do so when fermentation has nearly stopped.
Mix 1 quart of brandy with 1 pound of honey and pour it into the cask.
Seal the bunghole with stiff brown paper.
Check weekly, replacing the paper if it bursts.
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, juice and natural sugars and acids that the wine is made from.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide and adding sweetness.
- Brandy
- Optional addition that raises the alcohol content and strengthens the finished wine.
- Honey
- Optional addition that adds sweetness and body to the finished wine.
The step that matters
Adding brandy only when fermentation has nearly stopped. Alcohol added while yeast is still active can halt fermentation early, leaving the wine sweeter and less stable. Waiting lets the yeast finish converting most of the sugar first.
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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