Skip to main content

Tincture of Rhubarb

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Rhubarb and cardamom share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Tincture of Rhubarb

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine rhubarb, cardamom seeds, and brandy in a jar.

  2. Let the mixture digest for one week.

  3. Strain the tincture before use.

  4. For a vinous tincture, infuse the ingredients in Lisbon wine and add proof spirits.

  5. For a bitter tincture, add gentian and Virginian snake-root to the mixture.

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. Rhubarb + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  3. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  4. Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Rhubarb + spirittop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together46 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Swap the cardamom

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, brandy, spirit, wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Rosemaryfits about as well
  4. Cardamomthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, brandy, spirit, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

You might also like

Rhubarb WineRhubarb Wine51 recipesWine WheyWine Whey111 recipesRaisin WineRaisin Wine64 recipesEgg WineEgg Wine58 recipes