Why it works: Blackberry and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,033 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Blackberry Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine blackberry juice and sugar in a pot.
Boil rapidly for 5 minutes.
Bottle and cork the syrup.
Serve
When cold, mix with chopped ice and water, using 1 cup of syrup for every quart of water.
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.
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Blackberry + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,033 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 flavor and liquid base of the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and, when boiled, helps it thicken and keep well.
The step that matters
Boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Boiling dissolves the sugar fully into the juice and reduces some of the water, giving a syrup that thickens as it cools and stores better. Too little boiling leaves a thinner, less stable syrup.
“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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