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Drink

Blackberry Brandy

A spirit infused with blackberries, spices, and sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Blackberry Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Macerate the fruit

  1. Mash the blackberries and combine them with the proof spirits, cloves, mace, cinnamon, and cardamom seeds in a sealed container.

  2. Let the mixture sit for two weeks, away from air.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar and water together until the mixture thickens to the consistency of maple syrup.

  2. Strain the syrup and cool it.

Blend and finish

  1. Strain the spirit from the fruit and spices.

  2. Mix the spirit with the syrup.

  3. Seal the mixture.

  4. Let it sit for another two weeks.

  5. Filter the mixture.

  6. Bottle it in airtight containers.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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 flavor, color, and natural sweetness that the spirit extracts over time.
Proof spirits
Extract flavor from the fruit and spices and act as the preserving base of the liqueur.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the strong alcohol and fruit acidity.

The step that matters

Keeping the mixture sealed and away from air during the two-week steeps. Alcohol and fruit exposed to air can oxidize and spoil, dulling flavor and color. A sealed container keeps the extraction clean and the aromas intact.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, sugar. 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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