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Drink

Ratafia of Cherries

A liqueur made by infusing wild and Morello cherries with brandy, spices, and fruit, then sweetened and bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,635 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ratafia of Cherries

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit and spices

  1. Crush the wild and Morello cherries.

  2. Strain the juice through a sieve.

  3. Pound the stones.

  4. Pound coriander.

  5. Pound cinnamon.

  6. Pound mace.

Infuse and sweeten

  1. Infuse all ingredients in a jar.

  2. Add 4 ounces of sugar for every pint of juice.

  3. Let it steep for a month.

Filter and bottle

  1. Filter the mixture.

  2. Bottle it for use.

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. Cinnamon + coriandertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cinnamon + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

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

Brandy
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour and aroma from the fruit and spices.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the cherry juice.
Morello cherries
Provide tart juice that forms the main body of the ratafia.
Coriander
Contributes a citrusy, aromatic note to the infusion.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet spice aroma to the infusion.

The step that matters

Let it steep for a month. Alcohol slowly extracts flavour and aroma from fruit and spices over time; cutting the steeping short leaves the spirit harsh and the flavour weak.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, brandy, coriander, 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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