Why it works: Ginger and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Ginger Beer
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In cold weather, scald the grated ginger.
Mix the ginger, molasses, and water together.
Ferment and bottle
Add the yeast when the mixture is slightly warm.
Allow to ferment.
Bottle the ginger beer like other beers.
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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Ginger + molassestop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 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
- Ginger
- Adds its sharp, spicy aroma and bite to the drink.
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness and deep flavour, and feeds the yeast during fermentation.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol, making the drink fizzy.
The step that matters
Add the yeast when the mixture is slightly warm.. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid, but it works slowly when the liquid is cold. Slightly warm liquid lets the yeast wake up and start fermenting quickly and reliably.
“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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