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 ↓
Blackberry Cordial
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick over the blackberries, discarding any that are reddish.
Squeeze the berries through a flannel bag to extract the juice.
Macerate and strain
Combine 4 cups of juice with 1 pound of sugar in a stone jar.
Stir the mixture frequently for the first day.
Let it sit for three days.
On the fourth day, strain the mixture through a sieve.
Finish and bottle
Add 4 cups of brandy to the strained juice. Mix well.
Bottle the cordial for use.
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
- Blackberries
- Provide the fruit flavour and colour, and the juice that forms the base of the cordial.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the juice and helps draw out and preserve its flavour.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and carries its aroma.
The step that matters
Discarding reddish blackberries. Unripe, reddish berries are more acidic and less sweet, and they can make the juice sharp and dull the flavour. Sorting out only ripe berries keeps the cordial balanced.
“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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