Name: Raspberry Shrub
Ingredients: 3 pints ice water; ½ pint raspberry syrup; ⅓ cup brandy; 1 large lemon

Why it works: Raspberry and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,109 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Raspberry Shrub

Ingredients

3 pints ice water
½ pint raspberry syrup
⅓ cup brandy
1 large lemon

Directions

Peel the lemon and squeeze the juice into a porcelain pitcher.
Add the ice water and raspberry syrup to the pitcher.
Stir in the brandy and mix well.

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.

Raspberry + lemontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,109 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Raspberry + brandytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together235 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).
Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,235 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Raspberry + syruptop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together377 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + brandytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together561 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Raspberry syrup: Adds sweetness and fruit flavor that balances the sourness of the lemon.
Lemon: Adds acidity and brightness, which keeps the sweet syrup from tasting flat.
Brandy: Adds warmth and aroma to the drink.
Ice water: Dilutes the mixture and chills it to a refreshing drinking strength.