Name: Raspberry Vinegar
Ingredients: 2 quarts ripe, fresh raspberries; 1 quart strong apple vinegar; 1 pound loaf sugar

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

2 quarts ripe, fresh raspberries
1 quart strong apple vinegar
1 pound loaf sugar

Directions

Infuse the raspberries

Place 2 quarts of raspberries in a stone or china vessel.
Pour 1 quart of vinegar over the raspberries and let it stand for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Pour the liquid over 2 quarts of fresh raspberries and strain after another 24 hours.

Sweeten and cook

For each pint of juice, add 1 pound of loaf sugar, breaking it up to help it dissolve.
Combine everything in a stone jar, cover it closely, and place it in a kettle of boiling water.
Keep boiling briskly for 1 hour, then remove any scum.

Cool and bottle

Allow to cool, then bottle.

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.

Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,884 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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

Raspberries: Provide the main fruit flavour and aroma that the vinegar draws out.
Apple vinegar: Extracts the raspberry flavour and adds the sharp acidity that balances the sugar.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve it once cooked.