Name: Blackberry Cordial
Ingredients: 1 gallon blackberries; 1 quart water; 1 pound sugar; 1 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; ½ pint brandy

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 juice

Combine blackberries and water in a pot and boil until the berries are soft.
Strain the mixture to extract the juice.

Spice and sweeten

For every quart of juice, add 1 pound of sugar, 1 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon of ground allspice.
Boil the mixture for 5 minutes.

Finish and bottle

Strain again, then add ½ pint of brandy for every quart of juice.
Bottle and seal 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.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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

Blackberries: Provide the main fruit flavour, colour and juice for the cordial.
Sugar: Sweetens the cordial and balances the tartness of the blackberries.
Brandy: Adds alcohol that helps preserve the cordial and carries its aroma.
Ground cloves: Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Ground cinnamon: Contributes warm, sweet spice aroma.

“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.