Name: Rasin Wine
Ingredients: 2 pounds raisins, seeded and chopped; 1 lemon; 1 pound white sugar; about 2 gallons water

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 ↓

Rasin Wine

Ingredients

2 pounds raisins, seeded and chopped
1 lemon
1 pound white sugar
about 2 gallons water

Directions

Prepare

Combine the chopped raisins, juice of the lemon, and white sugar in a large container.
Add about 2 gallons of water and stir well.

Ferment

Cover the container and let it sit for several days, stirring daily.

Strain and bottle

After a week, strain the mixture and bottle the liquid.
Seal the bottles and store in a cool, dark place.

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.

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.

Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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 the fruit sugars and flavor that ferment into the wine.
White sugar: Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness to the finished drink.
Lemon: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and supports a clean fermentation.