Skip to main content
Dessert

Strawberry Vinegar

A syrup made by fermenting strawberries with vinegar and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Strawberry Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the juice

  1. Drain the liquid from the strawberries for 2 to 4 days.

  2. Strain the liquid through a linen or flannel bag and weigh it.

  3. Mix the strained liquid with an equal quantity of powdered sugar.

Cook and rest

  1. Stir the mixture over a clear fire until it boils for 5 minutes, then skim it.

  2. Pour the syrup into clean stone pitchers or large china jugs.

  3. Cover with a thick cloth and let it sit overnight.

Bottle and store

  1. Bottle the syrup in pint or half-pint bottles, corking them lightly.

  2. After 4 to 5 days, cork them tightly and store in a cool, dry place.

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.

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

Strawberries
Provide the flavoring juice that gives the syrup its fruit character.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweetness and helps preserve the syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and, at high concentration, helps preserve it.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar and juice mixture. Boiling for the full 5 minutes dissolves the sugar fully and drives the syrup to a concentration that resists spoilage. Skimming removes foam and impurities so the syrup stays clear and keeps better.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes