Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raisin Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Seed and chop the raisins.
Juice the lemon and add it to the raisins.
Ferment
In a stone jar, combine the chopped raisins, lemon juice, sugar, and boiling water.
Stir the mixture daily for 6 to 8 days.
Bottle and rest
Strain the mixture into bottles.
Store the bottles in a cool place for about 10 days before using.
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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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Raisins
- Provide sugars and flavour, and the fruit that ferments into wine.
- White sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness to the finished wine.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and brightness that balance the sweetness.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture daily. Stirring keeps the raisins and sugar evenly mixed with the liquid and supplies oxygen near the surface, helping the yeast ferment steadily. Skipping days can leave the fermentation uneven.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar. 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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