Why it works: Sugar and brandy 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 ↓
Cherry Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Stone the cherries and remove the kernels from a dozen of the stones.
Rub the kernels to a paste and mix with the crushed cherries.
Let the mixture stand for 1 hour, then squeeze out the juice.
Make and freeze
Add the sugar and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Strain the mixture again, then add the brandy or maraschino.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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.
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Tart cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and the juice that becomes the ice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point so the ice stays softer.
- Brandy or maraschino
- Adds aroma and flavor, and its alcohol keeps the ice from freezing rock-hard.
The step that matters
Add the sugar and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Sugar that stays undissolved forms gritty crystals in the frozen ice. Fully dissolved sugar lowers the freezing point evenly, giving a smoother, more scoopable texture.
“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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