Name: Ratafia of Four Fruits
Ingredients: 10 pounds very ripe cherries; 2.5 pounds raspberries; 5.5 pounds red currants; 2.5 pounds black currants; ½ pound sugar for every quart of juice; ½ pound brandy for every quart of juice; 1 teaspoon mace; 2 teaspoons cloves

Why it works: Red currant and black currant share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 72 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Ratafia of Four Fruits

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

Pick and mix the cherries, raspberries, red currants, and black currants.
Press the juice from the mixed fruits and measure it.

Make the ratafia

For every quart of juice, dissolve ½ pound of sugar in the juice.
Add ½ pound of brandy, 1 teaspoon of mace, and 2 teaspoons of cloves to the mixture.
Let the mixture stand for some time.
Filter the mixture.
Bottle the ratafia and keep it well corked.

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.

Red currant + black curranttop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together72 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Black currant + clovetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together40 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Red currant + clovetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together128 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
Brandy + clovetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,362 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

Cherries: Provide the main fruit flavour and body of the juice.
Raspberries: Add aromatic fruit flavour and fragrance to the blend.
Red currants: Contribute tartness that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Black currants: Add deep colour and sharp acidity to the blend.
Sugar: Sweetens the juice and balances its acidity.
Brandy: Preserves the juice and carries the spice and fruit aromas.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand for some time. Standing lets the sugar dissolve fully and the fruit and spice flavours blend and mellow. Stopping too early can leave the drink harsh or unevenly sweetened before filtering.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red currant, black currant, sugar, brandy, clove):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red currant, black currant, sugar, brandy, clove. 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.

Black Currant Cordial11 recipes

Vegetable Soup350 recipes

Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes

Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Ratafia of Four Fruits