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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet alcoholic cordial made by boiling blackberries with allspice, cloves, and sugar, then adding brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Blackberry Cordial

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Blackberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Mash the blackberries in a large pot.

  2. Add the pulverized allspice and cloves.

  3. Mix and boil slowly until done.

Strain and sweeten

  1. Strain the mixture through homespun or flannel.

  2. Add 1 pound of white sugar for each pint of juice.

  3. Boil again, then let it cool.

Finish with brandy

  1. Once cool, add ½ gallon of 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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,362 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together931 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + sugartop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,938 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and brandy 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

Blackberries
Provide the main fruit juice, flavour and colour of the cordial.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit juice.
Best brandy
Acts as the alcohol base that preserves the cordial and carries its flavours.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the cordial.
Cloves
Adds strong, warm aromatic flavour to the cordial.

The step that matters

Boil again, then let it cool before adding brandy. Adding alcohol to a hot mixture can drive off its aroma and cause it to evaporate. Letting the syrup cool first keeps the brandy's flavour intact.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, 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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