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Raspberry Cordial

A sweet raspberry cordial made by macerating berries in vinegar, sweetening, boiling, and bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raspberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infusion

  1. Fill a jar nearly full of raspberries.

  2. Cover them with white wine vinegar and let stand for ten days.

  3. Strain the mixture.

Sweeten and bottle

  1. Add 1½ pounds of sugar for each pint of liquid.

  2. Boil gently for a few minutes.

  3. Cool and bottle for use.

  4. Mix with water for a delightful summer drink.

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. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 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 main fruit flavor and color that the vinegar draws out.
White wine vinegar
Extracts the fruit's flavor and adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
Sugar
Sweetens the liquid and helps preserve it, giving the cordial its body.

The step that matters

Boiling the sweetened liquid. Boiling gently only for a few minutes dissolves the sugar and thickens the syrup without overcooking it, which would dull the fresh raspberry flavor and drive off the vinegar's brightness.

“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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