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 ↓
Strawberry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse the vinegar
Place the strawberries in a large bowl and cover them with vinegar.
Let the mixture stand for 3 to 4 days.
Drain the vinegar through a jelly bag.
Pour the vinegar over the same quantity of strawberries and strain again.
Sweeten and bottle
For every pound of liquid, add 1 pound of sugar and mix well.
Bottle the mixture and let it stand covered (not corked) for one week.
After a week, cork the bottles tightly and store in a dry, cool place.
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.
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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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit flavor and aroma that the vinegar draws out and carries.
- Vinegar
- Extracts the strawberry flavor and acts as the preserving liquid for the finished syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the vinegar and balances its acidity.
The step that matters
Straining the vinegar through the jelly bag. Fruit solids left in the vinegar can ferment or spoil during storage. Draining cleanly and straining a second time keeps the liquid clear and stable.
“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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