Name: Ratafia Liqueurs
Ingredients: 3 pints filtered fruit juice (red or black currants, raspberries, mulberries, damsons, cherries); 1 quart old cognac brandy; 3 lbs loaf sugar; 3 pints water; 2 teaspoons vanilla essence; 2 teaspoons cinnamon essence; 2 teaspoons clove essence

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 ↓

Ratafia Liqueurs

Ingredients

3 pints filtered fruit juice (red or black currants, raspberries, mulberries, damsons, cherries)
1 quart old cognac brandy
3 lbs loaf sugar
3 pints water
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cinnamon essence
2 teaspoons clove essence

Directions

Prepare

Combine 3 pints of filtered fruit juice with 1 quart of cognac brandy.
In a separate pot, dissolve 3 lbs of loaf sugar in 3 pints of water to clarify.
Add the clarified sugar mixture to the fruit juice and brandy.
Stir in 2 teaspoons each of vanilla, cinnamon, and clove essences. Mix thoroughly.

Bottle and age

Bottle in pint bottles, corking and sealing well.
Let the liqueur age for 6 to 12 months before using.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Black currant + vanillatop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together35 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Black currant + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together28 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Vanilla + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,049 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Fruit juice: Provides the main fruit flavour and colour of the liqueur.
Cognac brandy: Acts as the spirit base, preserving the liqueur and carrying its aroma.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness and body to balance the alcohol and fruit acidity.

Swap the black currant

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

Peachfits better
Figfits better
Applefits better
Black currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cognac brandy, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, clove. 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.