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Ratafias

A sweet liqueur made from preserved grape must, brandy, grape syrup, and fruit infusions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 477 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Ratafias

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the preserved grape must, brandy, and grape syrup in a large container.

  2. Prepare infusions of apricot stones, mint, orange flower, and anise seed in advance.

Blend and filter

  1. Combine the infusions with the grape mixture and filter well.

Bottle and rest

  1. Bottle the liqueur and seal tightly.

  2. Store the bottles upright for ten days to allow carbonation.

  3. If no fermentation occurs, add a tablespoon of raspberry juice to two bottles, reseal, and store for another eight days.

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. Grape + apricottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together477 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Orange + anisetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Grape + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,771 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Apricot + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together703 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Brandy + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Preserved grape must
Provides the fermentable grape base that can produce carbonation during storage.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that carries the infused flavours and helps keep the liqueur stable.
Grape syrup
Adds sweetness and body to balance the spirit.
Infusions of mint, orange flower, and anise seed
Supply aroma and flavour to the finished liqueur.

The step that matters

Seal bottles tightly and store them upright. Fermentation during the rest produces carbon dioxide, which builds pressure inside the sealed bottles. A poor seal lets the gas escape, leaving the liqueur flat, while a tight seal keeps it dissolved.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (grape, brandy, syrup, apricot, orange, anise):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against grape, brandy, syrup, apricot, orange, anise. 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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