Blackberry
Brandy
Cordial
Ingredients
Blackberries (crushed)
Sugar
Water
Brandy (80 proof)
Although the recipe I used for this blackberry brandy cordial did not come from a period source, the ingredients and techniques used in making this cordial are in period. A similar recipe to the one I used was written in 1838 and though that is out of our period it does show that this cordial can be made using non-modern techniques.
Ingredients
2 cups blackberries (crushed)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups 80 proof brandy
A recipe in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery (circa 1550 to 1625) for making blackberry wine uses blackberries, water, and sugar in its ingredients. The Encyclopaedia Brittanica lists brandy as originating in Italy in 1000 A.D. Another recipe in the Booke of Cookery is for making cinnamon water without distilling it and it uses one quart of brandy as the alcohol.
Technique
The berries, their juice, and one cup of brandy are placed in a glass jar which is then sealed, shaken, and left to steep for one to two weeks. After the steeping time is up, the berries are strained out (using a fine strainer or cheesecloth). The water and sugar are dissolved together over light heat and this sugar syrup is added to the blackberry brandy along with a second cup of regular brandy.
A recipe from 1594 to make white hypocras (a spiced wine drink named after Hippocrates) in The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin uses the technique of steeping the "flavoring" ingredients in the alcohol without cooking (in that case they were soaked for a day). A recipe from Booke of Cookery to make Lord Verny's Vsquebath (which uses grain alcohol as it base) also steeped the flavoring ingredients without cooking and they were steeped for ten days.