Name: Eau De Cerises, Groseilles, Framboises
Ingredients: a pint of water; a pound of sugar boiled to a clear syrup; two before you use; half fill your bottles; three waters; two oranges -- a month; cloves; cinnamon

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Eau De Cerises, Groseilles, Framboises

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

Take cherries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, or mulberries.
To each pound of fruit add a pint of water.
Squeeze the fruit, and mix the juice with the water.
Strain it through a bag.

Sweeten and chill

Add sugar to taste, and strain it again.
Ice it or cool it by putting the bottle in cold water an hour or two before you use it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

124Calories

1 gProtein

0 gFat

31 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Water	not in our table	0
Syrup	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Frances Crawford. 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. See the original page.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,437 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,987 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Fruit (in the method): Provides the main flavour and colour of the cordial.
Water: Dilutes the fruit juice to a drinkable strength.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit.

Swap the orange

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Quincefits about as well
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup, clove, cinnamon. 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.

Orange Syrup47 recipes

Orange Water Ice28 recipes

Orgeat Syrup13 recipes

Simple Syrup13 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Eau De Cerises, Groseilles, Framboises