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Dessert

Fruits in Brandy

A preserve of cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, quinces, and other fruits steeped in brandy and sweetened with sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Fruits in Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Macerate the cherries

  1. Remove the stalks from the cherries.

  2. Place the cherries in a vessel with cinnamon and cloves.

  3. Cover the cherries with good brandy.

  4. Let them macerate in a sunny spot for a few weeks.

  5. Drain the brandy.

  6. Mix the drained brandy with ½ pound of sugar for each quart of brandy.

Prepare and steep the plums

  1. Prick the plums with a fork.

  2. Blanch the plums briefly in boiling water.

  3. Soak the plums in cold water for a few hours.

  4. Drain the plums.

  5. Place the plums in a bowl.

  6. Cover the plums with light syrup.

  7. Boil the syrup.

  8. Add a little sugar to the syrup.

  9. Pour the syrup over the plums.

  10. Repeat the process the next day.

  11. Drain the plums.

  12. Place the plums in a jug.

  13. Cover the plums with cold syrup flavored with vanilla and an equal amount of brandy.

Prepare the quinces

  1. Cut the quinces into quarters.

  2. Peel the quinces.

  3. Remove the hard parts from the quinces.

  4. Boil the quinces in water with a little citric acid.

  5. Soak the cooked quinces in cold water for a few hours.

  6. Place the quinces in sugar as with the plums.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apricot + peachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Plum + apricottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together284 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Plum + peachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Plum + quincetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together92 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour cherries
Provide the main fruit flavor and tartness that the brandy infuses.
Good brandy
Extracts and preserves the fruit's aroma and flavor during long maceration.
Sugar
Sweetens the brandy and syrups and helps preserve the fruit.
Black plums
Supply soft, juicy fruit that absorbs the sweet syrup and brandy.
Quinces
Add firm texture and a fragrant, tart flavor once cooked.

The step that matters

Boil the quinces in water with a little citric acid. Quinces are hard and can discolour when cut and heated; the citric acid keeps the flesh lighter and helps it cook through, as the acid slows browning.

“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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