Why it works: Ginger and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Excellent Ginger Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a large boiler, combine water and lump sugar and mix well while cold.
Add beaten egg whites and bring the mixture to a boil, skimming off any foam.
Stir in bruised ginger and boil for 20 minutes.
Flavor and ferment
Pour the hot mixture over the thin rinds of lemons.
When cool, add yeast and mix well.
Take 1 quart of the mixture and whisk it with isinglass shavings while warm.
Combine everything in a barrel and seal it.
Bottle
After one day, bottle the wine; it will be ready in three weeks.
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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Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
- Lump sugar
- Provides sweetness and the fermentable sugar that yeast turns into alcohol.
- Egg whites
- Bind fine particles on boiling so they can be skimmed off, clarifying the liquid.
- White ginger
- Contributes the spicy aroma and flavor that defines the wine.
- Lemon rinds
- Add aromatic oils and a bright citrus acidity to the wine.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- Isinglass
- Fining agent that helps settle suspended particles so the wine clears.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam while boiling. Egg whites coagulate and carry impurities to the surface as foam. Skimming it removes these, so the wine clears and tastes clean rather than muddy.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Dillfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, lemon. 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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