Name: Blackberry Brandy
Ingredients: 1 gallon blackberry juice; 1 gallon brandy; 1 pound loaf sugar

Why it works: Blackberry and brandy work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 146 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Blackberry Brandy

Ingredients

1 gallon blackberry juice
1 gallon brandy
1 pound loaf sugar

Directions

Combine equal quantities of blackberry juice and brandy.
Add 1 pound of loaf sugar for every gallon of liquid.
Alternatively, use 1 gallon of blackberries for each gallon of deodorized pure spirits and dissolve the berries in the spirits.

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.

Blackberry + brandytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together146 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Blackberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,033 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Brandy and sugar 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

Blackberry juice: Provides the fruit flavor and color that define the finished liqueur.
Brandy: Provides alcohol that carries the fruit flavor and preserves the liquid.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the alcohol and the tart fruit.