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Dewberry Cordial

A sweet dewberry cordial made with dewberry juice, sugar, spices, and French brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Dewberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Simmer the dewberry juice, sugar, nutmegs, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice together in a tightly covered saucepan for 30 minutes to prevent evaporation.

  2. Strain the mixture through a cloth and let it cool.

  3. Once cool, add the French brandy.

  4. Bottle and cork tightly.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Dewberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavour and most of the liquid base of the cordial.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the cordial and balances the tartness of the fruit juice.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the cordial.
French brandy
Adds alcoholic strength and a warming aroma, helping to preserve the cordial once bottled.

The step that matters

Add the brandy only after the mixture has cooled. Alcohol evaporates readily when hot, so adding brandy to the simmering mixture would drive off much of its aroma and strength. Cooling first keeps the brandy's character in the finished cordial.

“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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