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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, syrup, 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: 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 Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cordial

  1. Combine blackberry juice and syrup in a pot.

  2. Add mace, ground cloves, allspice, and ground cinnamon.

  3. Boil until a syrup forms.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool.

Finish and bottle

  1. Once cool, stir in brandy.

  2. Strain through a muslin bag, then bottle and cork.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Blackberry + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together212 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 much of the liquid base of the cordial.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and body, and helps preserve the cordial.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that helps preserve the cordial and carries the spice aromas.
Ground cloves
Contributes a warm, pungent aroma that flavors the cordial.
Ground cinnamon
Contributes a warm, sweet aroma and flavor to the cordial.

The step that matters

Boil until a syrup forms. Boiling concentrates the juice and sugar, so the cordial thickens and keeps better. Overboiling can scorch the sugars and darken the flavor, while underboiling leaves it thin and more prone to spoilage.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against blackberry, syrup, clove, allspice, cinnamon, 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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