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American Gin Without Distillation

A gin made by steeping juniper berries in proof spirit and infusing with oils, then diluted with water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Fennel and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 117 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

American Gin Without Distillation

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Steep juniper berries in proof spirit for one week.

  2. Mix oil of juniper, oil of turpentine, and oil of sweet fennel with loaf sugar until absorbed.

  3. Gradually add rectified spirits of wine and stir until well combined.

Clarify and finish

  1. Add clean lime-water and a bit of rock alum, then strain when clear.

  2. Mix in sweetened water to achieve desired strength.

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. Fennel + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together117 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Spirit + limetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Fennel + winetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Wine + limetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together438 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Juniper berries
Provide the main gin flavour, infused into the spirit over a week.
Proof spirit
Acts as the alcohol base that extracts and carries the botanical flavours.
Oil of juniper berries
Adds concentrated juniper aroma to the finished spirit.
Loaf sugar
Absorbs the essential oils so they disperse evenly into the spirit.
Lime-water
Helps clarify the spirit so it becomes clear when strained.
Rock alum
Aids clarification by causing suspended particles to settle out.

The step that matters

Straining when clear. Strain only once the liquid has fully clarified; straining early leaves cloudiness and sediment in the spirit. Essential oils dispersed poorly on sugar can also separate, so they should be fully absorbed first.

Swap the fennel

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, sugar, wine, lime):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Fennelthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, sugar, wine, lime. 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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