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To Make Peppermint Cordial

A sweet peppermint syrup made with peppermint oil, sugar, brandy, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

To Make Peppermint Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a marble mortar, combine the peppermint oil, loaf sugar, and brandy and mix them well until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Gradually add the water, stirring continuously.

  3. Taste and add more brandy and sugar until it reaches a pleasant flavor.

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. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Peppermint + brandytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together79 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Peppermint + sugartop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Peppermint oil
Provides the main mint aroma and flavor that defines the cordial.
Brandy
Carries the peppermint oil's flavor and adds alcohol warmth to the drink.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the strong mint and alcohol flavors.

The step that matters

Dissolving the sugar before adding water. Peppermint oil does not mix with water on its own, so it needs to be dispersed in the brandy and sugar first. Sugar dissolved in alcohol helps carry the oil evenly, and adding water gradually while stirring prevents the oil from separating into droplets.

Swap the peppermint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Peppermintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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