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 syrup
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 to a glass of ice water to 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 in the shrub.
- Cider vinegar
- Extracts the fruit flavour and adds the sharp acidity that defines a shrub.
- Sugar
- Balances the vinegar's acidity with sweetness and helps preserve the bottled syrup.
The step that matters
Boil for 10 minutes and bottle while hot. Boiling dissolves the sugar fully into the juice and heats the syrup enough to help it keep once bottled. Bottling while hot helps seal the syrup against spoilage.
“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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