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Raspberry Cordial

A sweet raspberry cordial made by mashing raspberries with sugar, adding cider vinegar, sun‑curing, and bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cordial

  1. Mash the raspberries in a stone jar with the sugar.

  2. Pour the cider vinegar over the mixture.

  3. Set the jar in the hot sunshine for 4 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture, then bottle and seal it.

Store and serve

  1. Store the bottles on their sides in a cool cellar.

  2. To serve, mix 2 tablespoons of cordial with a tumbler of iced water.

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.

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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + cidertop 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 fruit flavour, aroma and colour of the cordial.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and draws juice out of the raspberries as it mixes.
Cider vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the cordial.

“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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