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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

  1. Combine 2 quarts blackberry juice and 1 pound sugar in a pot.

  2. Add ½ ounce cloves, ½ ounce cinnamon, and ½ ounce nutmeg.

  3. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.

  4. Allow mixture to cool, then stir in 1 pint good brandy.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Blackberry + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together212 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Blackberry + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together362 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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 and liquid base of the cordial.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body to the juice.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and carries its aroma.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavor.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet spice aroma.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor.

The step that matters

Allow mixture to cool before adding brandy. Alcohol is volatile and its aroma fades when heated, so adding brandy to a hot mixture would drive off much of its flavor. Cooling first keeps the brandy's character in the finished cordial.

Swap the blackberry

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

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

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