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 ↓
Raspberry Shrub
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse the raspberries
Place raspberries in a stone jar and cover with cider vinegar. Let stand overnight.
Make the shrub
The next morning, strain the mixture.
To the juice, add sugar and boil for 10 minutes.
Bottle the mixture while hot.
Serve
To serve, mix ½ glassful of shrub with ½ glassful of pounded ice and cold water.
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.
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Raspberries
- Supply the main fruit flavour, aroma and colour of the shrub.
- Cider vinegar
- Extracts the fruit and gives the shrub its sharp, tart acidity.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar's sharpness and helps preserve the syrup.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice with sugar. The sugar must fully dissolve into the hot juice so the syrup is evenly sweet. Boiling also helps keep the mixture stable for bottling and 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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