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Drink

Cinnamon Cordial

A spirit infused with cinnamon, lemon, orange, cardamom, and sugar, optionally colored with burnt sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 405 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cinnamon Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large container, combine 1 drachm of essential oil of cassia or cinnamon with 2-3 gallons of spirit.

  2. Add 2-3 drops each of essence of lemon and orange peel, and 1 tablespoon of essence of cardamom.

  3. If desired, include 1 drachm of cardamom seeds, 1 oz. of dried orange peel, and 1 oz. of dried lemon peel.

  4. For a darker color, add burnt sugar to taste.

  5. Stir in 1 lb. of sugar until dissolved.

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. Lemon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together405 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Orange + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together228 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cassia + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Orange + spirittop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Essential oil of cassia or cinnamon
Provides the main cinnamon flavor and aroma that defines the cordial.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the strong spice flavors.
Spirit
Acts as the solvent that extracts and carries the flavors throughout the cordial.
Essence of cardamom
Adds a warm, aromatic floral note alongside the cinnamon.

The step that matters

Stir in the sugar until fully dissolved. Sugar dissolves slowly in high-alcohol spirit, so undissolved crystals can remain and leave the cordial gritty or unevenly sweet. Stirring thoroughly until clear ensures a smooth, balanced result.

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cassia, orange, cardamom, sugar, spirit):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Limefits about as well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cassia, orange, cardamom, sugar, spirit. 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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