Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raspberry Shrub
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a new tin pan, cover the raspberries with vinegar and let stand overnight.
Squeeze out the juice from the raspberries.
Make the shrub
Combine 1 pound of sugar with 1 pint of the juice in a pot.
Boil the mixture for one minute.
Bottle the raspberry shrub as soon as possible.
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.
-
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raspberries
- Provide the fruit flavour and the juice that forms the base of the shrub.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the shrub its tart, sharp character and helps preserve it.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity with sweetness and helps preserve the syrup.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for one minute. Boiling dissolves the sugar fully into the juice and gives a stable syrup. Stopping early can leave the sugar grainy, while longer boiling can drive off the fresh raspberry aroma.
“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.
More raspberry shrub recipes
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Sugar Vinegar20 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes