Why it works: Sugar and raisin 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 ↓
Elderberry Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the must
Boil the elderberries and water together for 15 minutes.
Strain the liquid and add the brown sugar.
Boil again for 30 minutes.
In a tub, place the sweet raisins and pour the boiling liquid over them.
When the mixture is warm (about milk warm), add the yeast.
Let it stand for 3 days, then strain into a cask.
Ferment and bottle
If there is excess liquid, use it to fill the cask as it settles while fermenting; otherwise, use water.
Keep the cask full for about 2 weeks.
When fermentation is nearly complete, cork the cask tightly.
Let it stand for about 3 months, then draw off into bottles.
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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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 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
- Elderberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and natural fruit character of the wine.
- Brown sugar
- Feeds the yeast, producing alcohol during fermentation and adding sweetness and body.
- Sweet raisins
- Add sugars and fruit flavour, and nutrients that help the fermentation along.
- Yeast
- Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
The step that matters
Adding the yeast at the right temperature. When the mixture is only warm, about milk warm, yeast stays active without being killed. Liquid that is too hot can kill yeast, stalling fermentation and leaving sugar unconverted.
“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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