Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Peppermint
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the alum mixture
Boil 2 ounces alum in a little water for 30 minutes to fine the liquor.
Gradually add 1 ounce salt of tartar to the boiled alum mixture.
When nearly cold, pour the mixture into the cask and stir for 5-6 minutes.
Make the oil mixture
Mix the oils in a mortar with a few lumps loaf sugar and a little salt of tartar until well combined.
Gradually add ½ cup spirit of wine, mixing until no oil is visible.
Combine this mixture with the remaining spirit of wine and stir well.
Combine and finish
Combine 13 gallons rectified malt spirit, 15 pennyweights oil of peppermint, 12 pounds loaf sugar, and 1½ pints spirit of wine in a large container.
Fill the container with water.
Dissolve the sugar in about 2 gallons soft boiled water, removing any scum.
Mix everything together in the cask.
Do not seal the cask tightly until the mixture is fine.
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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Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together701 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Peppermint + winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together369 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Spirit + pepperminttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together57 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Malt + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together325 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Spirit + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together602 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oil of peppermint
- Provides the characteristic mint flavour and aroma of the liqueur.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the finished liqueur.
- Rectified malt spirit
- Serves as the alcoholic base that carries and preserves the flavour.
- Alum
- Acts as a fining agent that helps clear the liquor.
The step that matters
Mixing the oils with sugar and salt of tartar. Oil of peppermint does not dissolve in alcohol or water on its own. Grinding it with sugar and a little salt of tartar in a mortar helps it disperse, so the oil combines evenly rather than floating as visible droplets.
Swap the peppermint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, spirit, sugar, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Rosemaryfits about as well
- Peppermintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against malt, spirit, sugar, wine. 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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