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 Shrub
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate and extract
Cover the raspberries with vinegar and let sit overnight.
In the morning, squeeze the berries thoroughly to extract the juice.
Sweeten and cook
Measure the juice and add 1 pound of sugar for every pint of juice.
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.
Bottle
Bottle and cork the shrub while hot.
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 pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 flavor and color, and release juice when squeezed.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that draws flavor from the berries and balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes. Boiling dissolves the sugar completely into the juice and vinegar, so the syrup is evenly sweetened and heated through before bottling.
“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 shrub recipes
You might also like
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Sugar Vinegar20 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.