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 Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Pick over and remove any refuse from the raspberries.
Place the berries in an earthen bowl and barely cover them with cider vinegar.
Let the mixture stand for 48 hours, stirring occasionally.
Crush the berries and strain the mixture to extract the juice.
Make the syrup
Measure the juice and add 1 pound of sugar for each pint of juice.
Boil the mixture gently until it thickens slightly when poured on a cold saucer.
Bottle
Once cooled, bottle and seal the raspberry vinegar.
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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main flavour and colour, and their juice forms the base of the vinegar.
- Cider vinegar
- Extracts flavour from the berries and adds the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, when boiled, thickens it into a syrupy consistency.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture gently until it thickens slightly. Boiling too hard or too long can scorch the sugar and dull the fresh fruit flavour, while stopping too early leaves a thin syrup that may spoil sooner. The cold saucer test shows when the syrup has reached the right set.
“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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