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 ↓
Raspberry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse the raspberries
Pick the raspberries, removing any stalks.
Place 4½ pints of raspberries in a stone jar and pour the vinegar over them. Let sit for 24 hours.
Strain the liquid over another 4½ pints of raspberries and let sit for another 24 hours.
Repeat the process one more time with the same quantity of raspberries and let sit for 24 hours.
Strain and sweeten
Wet a jelly bag with vinegar and strain the liquid through it.
For each pint of liquid, add 1 lb of powdered sugar and stir until dissolved.
Heat and bottle
Cover the jar and place it in a saucepan of boiling water. Boil for 1 hour, skimming off any scum.
Once cool, add 1 glass of brandy for each pint, then bottle and seal.
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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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raspberries
- Provide the main flavour and colour, with their juice steeping into the vinegar over repeated batches.
- Vinegar
- Extracts flavour from the fruit and gives the syrup its sharp, acidic bite.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the liquid, balancing the vinegar's acidity.
- Brandy
- Added after cooling to act as a preservative and add aroma.
The step that matters
Heating the jar in boiling water. Boiling for an hour with skimming removes scum from the liquid. Adding brandy only after cooling keeps its alcohol and aroma from evaporating during heating.
“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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