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Blackberry Cordial

A sweet blackberry liqueur 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: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 pot, combine blackberry juice, sugar, and spices tied in muslin bags.

  2. Boil the mixture for 15 minutes, skimming off any foam.

  3. Remove from heat and add the brandy.

Cool and bottle

  1. Let it cool in a covered vessel.

  2. Once cold, remove the spice bags, strain the mixture, and bottle it.

  3. Seal the corks tightly.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 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. Allspice + clovetop 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. Nutmeg + allspicetop 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 fruit flavor and liquid base of the cordial.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and body, and helps preserve the cordial.
Brandy
Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and carries the spice aroma.
Ground cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet aroma that complements the blackberry flavor.
Grated nutmeg
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavor to the cordial.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam while boiling. Foam rising during the boil carries impurities and cloudiness into the liquid. Skimming it keeps the cordial clearer and cleaner in flavor before it is strained and bottled.

Swap the blackberry

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

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

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