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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet alcoholic beverage made from 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: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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

Prepare the juice

  1. Mash the blackberries and squeeze them through a cloth to obtain the juice.

Make the cordial

  1. Combine the blackberry juice and sugar in a pot.

  2. Add the whole cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and pounded nutmeg.

  3. Boil the mixture over gentle heat for 2 hours.

  4. Strain the cordial through a fine cloth or sieve.

Finish and bottle

  1. Stir in the brandy, then bottle and cork 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 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. Allspice + nutmegtop 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

Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled down, body and preservation for the cordial.
Blackberry juice
Supplies the main fruit flavour, colour and liquid base of the cordial.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the cordial and adds warmth to the flavour.
Whole cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet spice aroma as it steeps in the hot juice.
Whole cloves
Contributes strong aromatic spice flavour during the simmer.

The step that matters

Boil over gentle heat for 2 hours. Gentle heat lets the juice reduce and the spices infuse without scorching the sugar and fruit. Too vigorous a boil can burn the sugar and dull the fresh blackberry flavour.

Swap the blackberry

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

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

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