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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, sugar, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Blackberry Cordial

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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. Pound and squeeze enough blackberries to make 1 quart of juice.

Cook the cordial

  1. In a kettle, combine the blackberry juice, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

  2. Tie the spices in a thin muslin bag and stir until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, skimming off any scum.

  4. Remove from heat, pour into a jar, and cover tightly while cooling.

Finish and bottle

  1. Once cool, strain out the spices and add the brandy.

  2. 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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. 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

Blackberry juice
Provides the main fruit flavor, color, and liquid base of the cordial.
Sugar
Sweetens the cordial and helps preserve it by binding water.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the cordial and contributes warmth of flavor.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma from spice oils infused into the cordial.
Ground cloves
Contributes strong, warm aroma from its aromatic oils.

The step that matters

Skimming off any scum while boiling. Scum formed on boiling fruit juice and sugar contains impurities and foam that can cloud the cordial and affect its clarity and flavor if left in.

Swap the blackberry

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Blackberrythe original

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