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Angelica Syrup

A syrup made by steeping angelica stems in wine and syrup, then filtering and bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Angelica Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the angelica

  1. Trim the angelica stems.

  2. Parboil the trimmed stems for 10 minutes.

  3. Immerse the stems in cold water.

  4. Peel the stems.

  5. Dry the stems on a napkin.

  6. Cut the stems into small pieces.

Infuse

  1. Place the cut stems in a glass jar.

  2. Add the spirits of wine to the jar.

  3. Cover the jar.

  4. Let the jar stand for 10 days.

  5. Add the syrup to the jar.

Filter and bottle

  1. Filter the mixture the next day.

  2. Transfer the filtered mixture to a bottle.

  3. Cork the bottle well.

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.

  1. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Angelica + spirittop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Spirit + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together141 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Angelica + syruptop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together111 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Angelica + winetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Angelica stems
Provide the main flavour, which is released into the spirit during the long standing.
Spirits of wine
Extract and preserve the aromatic compounds from the angelica stems.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and softens the sharp edge of the strong spirit.

The step that matters

Letting the jar stand for 10 days. The infusion needs time for the spirit to draw flavour out of the stems. Keeping the jar sealed and undisturbed during this period lets extraction happen slowly and evenly, so the finished syrup tastes of angelica rather than raw alcohol.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, wine, syrup):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, wine, syrup. 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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