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Red Raspberry Cordial

A sweet syrup made from raspberries, vinegar, and sugar.

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 ↓

Red Raspberry Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Pour the cider vinegar over the raspberries and let it stand for three days.

  2. Mash the berries and strain the mixture through fine cheesecloth.

Make the cordial

  1. For each pint of liquid, add one pound of granulated sugar.

  2. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes, skim off any foam, and place it in airtight jars or bottles.

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

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

  3. Cider + sugartop 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

Ripe red raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavor and color for the cordial.
Cider vinegar
Extracts flavor from the berries and adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cordial and helps preserve it once boiled.

The step that matters

Boiling the mixture for fifteen minutes. Boiling dissolves the sugar fully and drives off excess water, while skimming removes foam that could spoil the cordial. Stopping early can leave it too thin or prone to fermenting in storage.

“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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