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Raisin Wine

A fermented wine made by steeping raisins in boiling water, adding sugar, potassium bitartrate, and fermenting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Raisin Wine

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

  1. Pour 12 gallons of boiling water over 48 pounds of Smyrna raisins.

  2. Add 12 pounds of loaf sugar and stir daily for 14 days.

  3. After 14 days, pour off the liquid and press the fruit.

  4. Add 1 pound of bitartrate of potash to the liquid.

  5. Transfer to a cask, reserving some liquid to top off later.

  6. Allow to ferment until ready to draw off.

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. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Smyrna raisins
Supply the fruit sugars and flavor that the fermentation turns into wine.
Loaf sugar
Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness and alcohol potential.
Bitartrate of potash
Adds acidity and helps keep the wine balanced and stable.

The step that matters

Stirring daily while the raisins steep. Regular stirring keeps the fruit and sugar evenly mixed with the liquid, so the sugar dissolves and the fruit releases its flavor and nutrients to the yeast consistently.

“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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