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Dandelion Wine

A fermented beverage made from dandelion blossoms, water, raisins, citrus, sugar, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Dandelion Wine

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil dandelion blossoms, water, raisins, oranges, lemons, and sugar for 20 minutes.

  2. Allow the mixture to cool.

  3. Add the yeast foam and let it stand for 7 days.

  4. Strain through fine cloth and bottle.

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Dandelion + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together57 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Dandelion + orangetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. 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

Sugar
Feeds the yeast and provides the sweetness and alcohol the wine develops during fermentation.
Yeast foam
Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide over the standing period.
Raisins
Add sugars and body to the wine, supporting fermentation.
Oranges
Add acidity and citrus aroma to the wine.
Lemons
Add acidity and brightness that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Add the yeast foam and let it stand for 7 days. The mixture must be cool before the yeast is added, because hot liquid can kill yeast and stop fermentation. Standing lets the yeast convert the sugars into alcohol.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (dandelion, orange, lemon, sugar):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Vanillafits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against dandelion, orange, lemon, 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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