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Raspberry Shrub

A sweet raspberry vinegar syrup made by mashing berries, steeping with vinegar, and sweetening with sugar and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Raspberry Shrub

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Raspberry Shrub

Ingredients

Directions

Macerate the raspberries

  1. Mash 5 quarts of raspberries and cover them with cider vinegar.

  2. Let the mixture stand in the sun for 12 hours.

  3. Keep the mixture cool at night.

  4. Stir the mixture several times during the day.

  5. Strain the mixture.

  6. Place 5 quarts of fresh raspberries in a bowl.

  7. Pour the strained raspberry vinegar over the fresh raspberries.

  8. Mash the fresh raspberries with the vinegar.

  9. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

Make the syrup and bottle

  1. For each quart of liquid, add 1 pint of water and 3 pounds of sugar.

  2. Stir steadily until the sugar is dissolved.

  3. Skim off any foam when it comes to a boil.

  4. Remove from heat and bottle while warm.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

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

  3. Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Raspberries
Provide the main flavor and color, and their juice forms the body of the shrub.
Cider vinegar
Extracts flavor from the fruit and gives the shrub its sharp, acidic bite.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and adds sweetness, and helps preserve the syrup.

The step that matters

Stirring the sugar until dissolved. Sugar that is not fully dissolved can settle or crystallize in the bottled shrub. Stirring steadily over gentle heat ensures an even, clear syrup that keeps its texture.

“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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