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Drink

Blackberry Acid

A blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, sugar, spices, brandy, and blackberry seeds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Blackberry Acid

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine blackberry juice, loaf sugar, grated nutmeg, powdered cloves, powdered cinnamon, and powdered allspice in a pot.

  2. Boil the mixture for a short time.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Finish and bottle

  1. Add brandy or whiskey and white sugar to the cooled mixture.

  2. Crack the blackberry seeds and add them to the juice before straining.

  3. Put the mixture back on the fire and bring it to a boil.

  4. Skim off any foam.

  5. Bottle the mixture once it has cooled.

  6. Cork the bottle securely.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Blackberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavour and the liquid base of the drink.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the juice and adds body to the finished drink.
Brandy or whiskey
Adds alcohol, which preserves the drink and carries its aroma.
White sugar
Adds further sweetness, balancing the juice's tartness.
Powdered cinnamon
Contributes warm aroma and spice flavour.

The step that matters

Skim off any foam. Foam rising during boiling carries impurities and proteins from the juice; removing it keeps the liquid clear and its flavour clean.

Swap the blackberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, allspice, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Blackberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, allspice, brandy. 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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