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
Pick the raspberries clean and mash them.
Place the mashed raspberries in a pan in a warm place and let them ferment for 2-3 days.
Draw off the juice and filter it through blotting paper.
Make the syrup
For every pint of juice, add 2 lbs of loaf sugar and melt it over low heat, skimming well without boiling.
Strain the mixture through a cloth, let it cool, and bottle it.
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.
-
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 liquid base for the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve it once dissolved.
The step that matters
Melting the sugar without boiling. Heating the juice and sugar gently dissolves the sugar without scorching or over-reducing the flavour. Skimming removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the syrup and spoil its clarity.
“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.
More raspberry syrup recipes
You might also like
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Raspberry Shrub57 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.