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 ↓
Syrup of Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Boil vinegar and sugar together until it forms a clear syrup. Bottle the syrup.
To serve, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of syrup to a glass of 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.
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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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the syrup its tang.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the vinegar and thickens it into a syrup as it boils.
The step that matters
Boiling until a clear syrup forms. The sugar must fully dissolve into the hot vinegar and the mixture must boil long enough to thicken. Undissolved sugar or underboiling leaves a grainy or thin syrup that does not store or mix well.
“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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