Name: Blackberry Cordial
Ingredients: 2 quarts blackberry juice; 1 pound white sugar; ½ ounce nutmeg, pulverized; ½ ounce cinnamon, pulverized; ½ ounce cloves, pulverized; 1 pint brandy

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

In a large pot, combine blackberry juice, white sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.
Boil the mixture for a short time.
Allow the mixture to cool.
Strain the mixture through a cloth.

Finish and serve

Add brandy to the strained mixture.
Serve chilled.

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Blackberry + clovetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Blackberry + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together362 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

Blackberry juice: Provides the main fruit flavor, color and liquid base of the cordial.
White sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the blackberry juice.
Brandy: Adds alcohol that carries aroma and helps preserve the finished cordial.
Cloves: Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that flavor the cordial.

Swap the blackberry

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Blackberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, 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.