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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made by boiling mashed blackberries with spices, sugar, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 juice

  1. In a large pot, combine the mashed blackberries, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

  2. Pulverize the mixture well, then boil it slowly for about 30 minutes.

  3. Strain the juice through a flannel cloth.

Finish the cordial

  1. For each pint of juice, add ½ pound of loaf sugar and boil for another 30 minutes.

  2. Cool the mixture and then add ½ gallon of the best brandy.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cinnamon + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Cinnamon and sugar 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

Blackberries
Provide the main fruit juice, flavour and colour of the cordial.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the blackberry juice.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and carries the spice aromas.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet spice aroma to the cordial.
Cloves
Contributes strong, pungent spice aroma to the cordial.

The step that matters

Cool before adding the brandy. Adding brandy to hot liquid drives off alcohol and aroma through evaporation and can cause the spirit to lose its character. Cooling the mixture first keeps the brandy's flavour and strength in the finished cordial.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Allspicefits about as well
  3. Cardamomfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, 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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