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Molasses Beer

A fermented beverage made from water, molasses, yeast, cream of tartar, lemon peel, and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,577 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brew

  1. Combine 6 quarts of water, 2 quarts of molasses, 1 pint of yeast, and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar in a large container, then stir the mixture well.

  2. Add the grated peel of 1 lemon and the juice if using.

Rest and bottle

  1. Let the mixture stand for 10 hours.

  2. Bottle the beer, placing 1 raisin in each 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. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,408 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + raisintop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,642 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,640 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,640 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the sugar that yeast ferments, and the dark flavor of the beer.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, making the beer fizzy.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity, which helps keep the mixture on the tart side and supports the yeast.
Lemon peel
Adds aromatic citrus oils for a bright, fresh aroma.

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, cream, raisin):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, cream, raisin. 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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