Name: Blackberry Brandy
Ingredients: 1 gallon blackberry juice; 1 gallon brandy; 1 pound loaf sugar; 1 gallon deodorized pure spirits; 1 gallon blackberries

Why it works: Brandy and spirit work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Blackberry Brandy

Ingredients

Directions

Combine equal quantities of blackberry juice and brandy.
Add 1 pound of loaf sugar for every gallon of the mixture.
Alternatively, mix 1 gallon of blackberries with 1 gallon of deodorized pure spirits and let the berries dissolve in the spirits.

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.

Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
Blackberry + brandytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together146 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Blackberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,033 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Blackberry + spirittop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Brandy and sugar 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

Blackberry juice: Supplies the main blackberry flavour and colour to the liquor.
Brandy: Forms the spirit base and carries the fruit flavour.
Loaf sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the alcohol and fruit.
Deodorized pure spirits: Serves as an alternative alcohol base that draws flavour from the berries.
Blackberries: Provide the fruit flavour and colour when dissolved in the spirits.