Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Grape Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Wash and break the grapes into pieces.
Cover the grapes with soft water and let them stand for five to six days, stirring occasionally.
Strain the mixture through a cloth.
Ferment
Add 1 pound of brown sugar for every quart of juice.
Once the mixture is done fermenting and clear, transfer it to a jar.
Bottle
Bottle the wine for use.
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.
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Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 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
- Grapes
- Supply the juice that ferments into the wine and carry its flavour.
- Brown sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation and adds sweetness and body to the wine.
The step that matters
Wait until fermentation is finished before transferring. Fermentation produces carbon dioxide. If the wine is moved or bottled while still fermenting, yeast activity can continue and build pressure in sealed containers. Waiting until the wine is clear also lets sediment settle, so the transferred wine stays clean.
“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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