Why it works: Raspberry and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,101 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Select and pick over the raspberries.
Mash the raspberries in a pan and place in a warm area until fermentation starts, about three days.
Filter the juice through a flannel bag or blotting paper.
Make the syrup
Add powdered sugar to the juice in the specified proportion.
Heat the syrup on the fire, skimming carefully without boiling.
Alternatively, mix in a glass or earthenware jar and place in a pan of water on the fire to prevent burning.
When dissolved to the 'Little Pearl' stage, remove from heat and strain through a cloth.
Bottle
Bottle the syrup when cold, cover with tissue paper dipped in brandy, and secure with a bladder.
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.
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Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,101 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raspberry juice
- Provides the main flavour and the liquid base of the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and, when dissolved and cooked, thickens it into a syrup.
The step that matters
Heating without boiling. Sugar syrup that boils too hard can scorch on the bottom of the pan, and skimming while heating removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the finished syrup.
“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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