Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Blackberry Cordial
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Squeeze the juice from the blackberries through a linen bag.
Combine the juice and sugar in a preserving kettle.
Heat until the sugar melts.
Boil the mixture until it reaches a thin jelly consistency.
Finish and bottle
Once cooled, mix in the brandy.
Bottle immediately.
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.
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blackberries
- Provide the juice that gives the cordial its flavour and deep colour.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the cordial and thickens it slightly as the mixture boils down.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that preserves the cordial and rounds out its flavour.
The step that matters
Boil to a thin jelly consistency. Boiling concentrates the juice and dissolves the sugar into a syrup; stopping too early leaves it thin and prone to spoiling, while boiling too long makes it overly thick.
“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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