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Raspberry Cordial

A cordial made by macerating raspberries in brandy, then sweetening the infused juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raspberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Steep

  1. Fill a stone jug with ripe raspberries.

  2. Pour French brandy over the raspberries until the jug is full.

  3. Let the mixture stand for two months, shaking the jug occasionally.

Finish and bottle

  1. After two months, pour off the juice.

  2. Sweeten the juice with powdered sugar to taste.

  3. Bottle the cordial.

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. Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Ripe raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavor and aroma that the brandy extracts over time.
French brandy
Acts as the solvent and preservative, extracting flavor from the fruit while keeping the cordial stable.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the tartness and alcohol in the finished cordial.

The step that matters

Shaking the jug occasionally during the two months. Gentle agitation keeps the fruit in contact with the brandy so flavor and color extract evenly, rather than only from the fruit at the surface.

“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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