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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, sugar, nutmeg, cloves, and whiskey.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Blackberry Cordial

Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Blackberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine blackberry juice, white sugar, nutmegs, and cloves in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then skim off any foam.

  3. Allow the mixture to cool, then stir in the whiskey.

  4. Pour the cordial into a jug and cork it.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Blackberry + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together212 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Blackberry + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Blackberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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

Blackberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavour and liquid base of the cordial.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and body, and helps preserve the cordial.
Whiskey
Acts as a preservative and adds alcohol strength and warmth to the cordial.
Cloves
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Nutmegs
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour.

The step that matters

Skim off the foam after boiling. Foam that rises while the mixture boils contains impurities and proteins from the juice. Removing it keeps the cordial clear and prevents off flavours and cloudiness in the finished liquid.

Swap the blackberry

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

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

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