Why it works: Sugar and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,308 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Apple Wine
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure the cider is pure and made from ripe, sound apples.
If desired, add 10 lbs of sugar to the cider and let it dissolve.
Transfer the mixture into a cask, leaving 2 gallons of space.
Ferment
Place the cask in a cool location with the bung out for 48 hours.
After 48 hours, secure the bung but allow a small vent until fermentation is complete.
Once fermentation is done, seal the cask securely.
Age
The wine will be ready for consumption in twelve months.
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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Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,308 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cider
- Provides the base liquid and the apple flavour that the wine is built on.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during fermentation, which produces the alcohol in the wine.
The step that matters
Venting the cask after 48 hours. Fermentation gives off carbon dioxide. A sealed cask can build pressure and burst, so the bung must stay loose with a small vent until fermentation finishes, then be sealed.
“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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