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Spruce Beer

A fermented beverage made with water, hops, ginger, molasses, spruce essence, yeast, and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Spruce Beer

Why it works: Ginger and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,242 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Spruce Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil a handful of hops in 2½ gallons of water until they sink to the bottom.

  2. Strain the water and let it cool to lukewarm.

Ferment

  1. Stir in the ground ginger, molasses, essence of spruce, and yeast.

  2. Mix well in a stone jug and let it ferment for 1.5 to 2 days.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the mixture with 3-4 raisins in the bottom of each bottle to prevent further fermentation.

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Hops + gingertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Hops + molassestop 41% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the molasses, producing carbonation and alcohol that give the beer its fizz.
Molasses
Supplies the fermentable sugars that feed the yeast and add dark, rich sweetness.
Hops
Boiled in the water to add bitterness and aroma that balance the sweetness.
Ground white ginger
Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavor to the beer.
Essence of spruce
Provides the distinctive resinous, piney flavor that defines this beer.

The step that matters

Bottling with raisins. Yeast is still active after fermentation, so bottles can build pressure or over-carbonate. Raisins in the bottom add a small amount of sugar and yeast to carbonate, and the record says they are meant to prevent further fermentation, so the timing and amount matter.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, ginger, molasses):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hops, ginger, molasses. 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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