Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Cherries in Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Cut the stems of the cherries to about ½ inch long.
Prick the cherries with a copper pin.
Soak the cherries in medium hot alum water, then cool them quickly in cold running water.
Place the cherries in a stone jar and pour hot boiling syrup over them.
After 24 hours, drain the syrup.
Infuse and finish
In a barrel, combine the coriander spirit, Chinese cinnamon, cloves, double proof spirit, and water.
Add the cherries to the barrel and let them absorb the spirit for five weeks.
Prepare the final liquor by mixing the previous infusion liquor, water, and sugar.
Add a few drops of carmine to color the liquor pale pink.
Seal the jars airtight.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,635 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Coriander + clovetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,221 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Spirit + cinnamontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Sour cherries
- Provide the fruit flavor and texture that the spirit and syrup soak into.
- Alum
- Firms the cherry flesh so it holds its shape during soaking and syrup treatment.
- Double proof spirit
- Extracts flavor from the spices and preserves the fruit through its high alcohol content.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the finished liquor and, as syrup, draws moisture and flavor into the fruit.
- Chinese cinnamon
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the infusing liquor.
The step that matters
Soaking the cherries in alum water, then cooling them quickly. Alum firms the fruit's pectin and cell structure, so the cherries keep their shape. Cooling quickly after the warm soak stops further softening, helping the fruit stay firm through the later syrup and spirit stages.
Swap the coriander
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, cinnamon, clove, sugar):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Corianderthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, cinnamon, clove, sugar. 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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