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A fermented lemon and ginger syrup sweetened with sugar, raisins, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and ginger 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 ↓

Syrups, Liqueurs, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine water and sugar in a large container.

  2. Add lemon rinds, ginger, lemon juice, and raisins.

  3. Stir in thick yeast and mix well.

  4. Stir the mixture daily for 10 days until fermentation stops.

  5. Add isinglass and brandy, then seal the container tightly.

  6. Let it sit for 2 months before bottling.

  7. If the wine is too sweet, allow it to age longer in the cask.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides the sweetness and the food that yeast ferments into alcohol.
Thick yeast
Ferments the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content and adds spirit character to the finished liqueur.
Isinglass
Helps clarify the liquid by settling suspended particles out of it.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture daily for 10 days until fermentation stops. Regular stirring keeps the yeast in contact with the sugar and releases carbon dioxide, so fermentation proceeds evenly. Stopping only when bubbling ends ensures the sugar has been converted before the brandy and isinglass are added.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, raisin, brandy):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, raisin, 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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