Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Damson Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove the stalks from the damsons.
Place the damsons in an earthenware bowl and pour in the boiling water.
Cover the bowl with a cloth and stir the mixture three or four times daily for 4 days.
Ferment and mature
Add the sugar and brandy, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to a clean, dry cask and cover the bunghole with a cloth until fermentation ceases.
Once fermentation is complete, bung the cask tightly and store it undisturbed for 12 months in a moderately warm place.
After 12 months, rack the wine off into bottles.
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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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 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
- Damsons
- Provide the fruit flavour, colour and natural sugars that ferment into the wine.
- Loaf sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness to the finished wine.
- French brandy
- Raises the alcohol level, helping to preserve the wine and stop fermentation.
The step that matters
Bunging the cask after fermentation. Bunging too early can trap gas and stall or spoil the wine, while leaving it open lets air in. Wait until fermentation has clearly finished, then seal the cask tightly so the wine can mature undisturbed.
“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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