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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry cordial made with blackberry juice, sugar, 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: 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

Make the cordial

  1. In a large pot, combine blackberry juice and sugar.

  2. Add cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg in small cloth sacks.

  3. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it thickens slightly.

  4. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cool, stir in the brandy.

  2. Remove the spice sacks before serving.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 liquid and fruit flavor of the cordial.
Sugar
Sweetens the cordial and, as it dissolves and cooks, adds body to the syrup.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and contributes a warm, spirited flavor.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma that infuses the juice through the cloth sacks.

The step that matters

Stir in the brandy only after cooling. Alcohol is volatile and evaporates when heated, so adding brandy to a hot mixture lets much of its aroma and flavor escape. Waiting until the cordial has cooled keeps the brandy's character in the finished drink.

Swap the blackberry

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

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

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