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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial flavored with spices and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Blackberry Cordial

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Blackberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cordial

  1. Combine blackberry juice and lump sugar in a pan.

  2. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

  3. Let the mixture stand for several hours.

  4. Slowly bring it to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes, skimming frequently.

  5. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Finish and age

  1. Stir in the brandy and bottle the cordial.

  2. Let it sit for several 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + nutmegtop 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. Allspice + clovetop 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

Blackberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavour and colour, and the liquid base of the cordial.
Lump sugar
Sweetens the cordial and helps preserve it along with the brandy.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and carries the spice aromas.

The step that matters

Skimming while simmering. Simmering for 20 minutes with frequent skimming removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the cordial and spoil its clean flavour.

Swap the blackberry

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Blackberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, brandy. 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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