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Raspberry Vinegar

A fermented raspberry vinegar made by steeping raspberries in vinegar, straining, sweetening, and boiling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Raspberry Vinegar

Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raspberry Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the raspberries

  1. Place 4 quarts of red raspberries in a bowl.

  2. Pour 2 quarts of strong apple vinegar over the raspberries.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture through a bag.

  5. Add the liquid to another 4 quarts of fresh raspberries.

  6. Let the mixture stand for another 24 hours.

  7. Strain the mixture again.

Sweeten and cook

  1. Sweeten the liquid with 1 pound of pounded loaf sugar.

  2. Break up the sugar to help it dissolve.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a stone jar.

  4. Cover the jar.

  5. Place the jar in a kettle of boiling water.

  6. Boil the mixture briskly for 1 hour.

  7. Skim off any scum.

Cool and bottle

  1. Allow the mixture to cool.

  2. Bottle the vinegar.

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.

  1. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Apple + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,884 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Red raspberries
Provide the main flavour and colour of the vinegar as they steep in it.
Strong apple vinegar
Extracts and preserves the raspberry flavour and acts as the sharp, acidic base.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the vinegar and balances its acidity.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture briskly for 1 hour. The jar must sit in fully boiling water for the whole hour so the mixture reaches a steady high heat. This heat helps the flavour blend and keeps the bottled vinegar stable, while skimming removes scum that would otherwise spoil it.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Pineapplefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar. 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.

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