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Elderberry Wine

A fermented beverage made from elderberries, water, cloves, sugar, yeast, and toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Elderberry Wine

Why it works: Clove and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,129 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Elderberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the must

  1. Combine elderberries, water, and essence of cloves in a large pot.

  2. Simmer slowly for 1 hour.

  3. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

  4. Pour the brewer's yeast over the toasted bread.

  5. Add the toasted bread to the mixture once cool.

  6. Let the mixture stand overnight.

  7. Remove the bread.

Ferment and age

  1. Transfer the liquid to stone bottles, filling them daily for 2-3 days as it ferments.

  2. Place the bottles in a warm area for 3 weeks.

  3. Cork the bottles lightly at first, then tightly after a few days.

  4. Allow the wine to age for 6 months before bottling, being careful not to disturb the sediment.

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.

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.

  1. Clove + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,129 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Clove + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + breadtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Clove and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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

Elderberries
Provide the main fruit flavor and color for the wine.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation and provides sweetness in the finished wine.
Brewer's yeast
Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Essence of cloves
Adds a spiced aroma to the wine.

The step that matters

Cork the bottles lightly at first, then tightly after a few days. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide, and sealing the bottles tightly too early can build enough pressure to burst them. Loose corks at first let gas escape while the wine is still active.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, bread. 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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