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Another Ratafia of Cherries

A cherry liqueur made by steeping cherries, peach leaves, spices, sugar, and brandy in juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Another Ratafia of Cherries

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Crush and strain the pulp of the cherries through a sieve.

  2. Pound the stones and add them to a pan with the cherry pulp, then bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Once cooled, measure the juice until you have 15 pints.

Steep and bottle

  1. Add the peach leaves, bruised cinnamon, cloves, sugar, and brandy to the juice.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a jar and let it steep for a month.

  3. After a month, draw off the liquid and bottle 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.

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Peach + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together625 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Peach + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 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

Morello cherry juice
Provides the main fruit flavour and tartness that defines the ratafia.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the sharp cherry juice and the strong brandy.
Brandy
Acts as the spirit base that extracts flavour and preserves the finished liquor.
Peach leaves
Contributes a subtle almond-like aroma during the month-long steep.
Cinnamon
Adds warm spiced aroma that complements the cherry flavour.

The step that matters

Measuring the juice to 15 pints after cooling. Cooking the pulp and stones concentrates and changes the liquid, so measuring only once it has cooled gives an accurate volume. The sugar and brandy quantities depend on that exact amount, so the ratio of juice to spirit and sugar stays balanced.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, 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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