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 fruit
Place the raspberries in a stone jar and cover them with cider vinegar.
Let the mixture stand overnight.
Strain the mixture the next morning.
Make the syrup
In a pot, combine 2 cups of the raspberry juice with 2 cups of sugar.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Bottle the mixture 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.
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Red raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour, and their juice becomes the base of the shrub.
- Cider vinegar
- Extracts the fruit flavour and adds the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the shrub and, once boiled, thickens it into a syrup that helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Boil the juice and sugar for 10 minutes. Boiling dissolves the sugar fully into the juice and gives a syrup that keeps well. Boiling too briefly can leave the syrup thin and less stable, while the vinegar's acidity helps the finished shrub keep.
“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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