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Elderberry Wine

A fermented elderberry wine with spices, raisins, sugar, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Elderberry Wine

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Elderberry Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the must

  1. Combine elderberry juice and water in a large pot.

  2. Add ginger root, allspice, stick cinnamon, powdered nutmeg, cloves, and mace.

  3. Stir in 60 pounds of sugar and mix well.

  4. Boil the mixture for 1 hour.

  5. Strain the mixture and let it cool until milk-warm.

Ferment and age

  1. Pour the mixture into a barrel.

  2. Toast a slice of bread, dip it in new yeast, and add it to the barrel.

  3. Keep the barrel uncorked until fermentation is complete.

  4. Cork the barrel tightly for 3 months.

  5. After 3 months, carefully draw off the wine.

Finish

  1. Clean the barrel.

  2. Return the wine to the barrel.

  3. Add 2 pounds of raisins, 10 to 15 pounds of sugar, and 3 gallons of brandy.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Elderberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavor, color, and the sugars and acids that feed fermentation.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast to produce alcohol and adds sweetness to the finished wine.
New yeast
Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Brandy
Raises the alcohol content and helps stabilize the wine.
Raisins
Add body, extra sugars, and fruity flavor to the wine.

The step that matters

Keep the barrel uncorked until fermentation is complete. Fermentation releases carbon dioxide, and the yeast needs air contact early on. Sealing the barrel too soon can trap pressure or stall fermentation, while leaving it open too long risks spoilage from unwanted microbes.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (elderberry, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, sugar):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against elderberry, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, 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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