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Elderberry Syrup

A syrup made from elderberry juice, molasses, and French brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Elderberry and brandy work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Elderberry Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and strain the elderberries to obtain 1 pint of juice.

Make the syrup

  1. In a pot, combine the elderberry juice and molasses.

  2. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Finish and bottle

  1. Once cooled, add 1 pint of French brandy for each quart of syrup.

  2. Bottle and cork the syrup tightly.

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. Elderberry + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14 recipes

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

  2. Molasses + brandytop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together721 recipes
  3. Elderberry + molassestop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Elderberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavor and deep color of the syrup.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, thick body, and a rich, deep flavor as it cooks.
French brandy
Adds alcohol, which helps preserve the syrup and adds aroma.

The step that matters

Add the brandy only after the syrup has cooled. Alcohol evaporates when heated, so adding brandy to hot syrup wastes much of its aroma and preserving effect. Cooling first keeps it in the finished syrup.

Swap the elderberry

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Currantfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Elderberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, 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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