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
Make the shrub
Place any quantity of red raspberries in a stone jar.
Cover them with good cider vinegar and let stand for 12 hours.
Strain the mixture.
For each pint of juice, add a pint of sugar.
Boil for 10 minutes and bottle while hot.
Serve
To serve, add enough shrub to a glass of ice water to suit your taste.
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
- Red raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour for the syrup.
- Good cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the fruit flavour and helps draw out its juice.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the shrub and balances the vinegar's sharpness.
The step that matters
Boil for 10 minutes and bottle while hot. Boiling the juice and sugar dissolves the sugar fully and gives a syrup that stays stable in the bottle. Bottling while hot helps seal out spoilage microbes.
“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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