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Raspberry Shrub

A sweet vinegar-based raspberry syrup made by mashing berries, adding vinegar, sugar, and boiling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Raspberry Shrub

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

  1. Mash the raspberries and place them in a crock.

  2. Add the vinegar and let it stand for 48 hours.

Strain and sweeten

  1. Strain the mixture.

  2. For every pint of juice, add 1 lb of sugar.

Boil and bottle

  1. Boil the mixture.

  2. Skim off any scum.

  3. When the scum ceases to rise, bottle it tightly.

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.

  1. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Red raspberries
Provide the main fruit flavour and the juice that forms the base of the shrub.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the fruit flavour and helps preserve the mixture.
Sugar
Balances the acidity with sweetness and helps preserve the syrup.

The step that matters

Let the raspberries stand with the vinegar for 48 hours. The vinegar slowly draws flavour and colour out of the crushed fruit and begins to preserve it. Standing for the full time gives a fuller, more balanced flavour before the juice is strained and sweetened.

“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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