Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Cowslip Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the liquor
Boil the sugar and water together for about 30 minutes, skimming when necessary.
Pour the boiling mixture over the rinds and strained juice of the orange and lemon.
Let it cool, then stir in the yeast and cowslip flowers.
Ferment
Cover with a cloth and allow it to remain undisturbed for 48 hours.
Transfer the mixture into a clean dry cask, add the brandy, and seal tightly.
Let it sit for 8 weeks, then draw it off into bottles.
Bottle and store
Cork securely and store in a cool, dry place for 3 to 4 weeks before using.
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.
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,706 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Cowslip flowers
- Provide the floral aroma and flavour that characterise the wine.
- Loaf sugar
- Provides the sugar the yeast converts to alcohol, and sweetness in the finished wine.
- Brewers' yeast
- Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the fermentation.
- Orange and lemon
- Add acidity and citrus aroma that balance the sweetness of the wine.
The step that matters
Let it cool before adding the yeast. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid. Stirring it in only after the boiled mixture has cooled keeps the yeast alive so it can ferment the sugar.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, orange, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, orange, 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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