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
Bruise the raspberries in a bowl.
Pour the vinegar over the raspberries and cover tightly.
Let it stand for three days, stirring daily.
Strain through a flannel bag without pressing.
Sweeten and bottle
To the strained liquid, add the sugar and boil for 10 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Once cooled, bottle and cork tightly.
Optionally, add a glass of brandy to the quart of raspberry vinegar.
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 fruit flavour and aroma that the vinegar draws out.
- Vinegar
- Extracts and preserves the raspberry flavour, giving the syrup its acidity.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the liquid and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Strain without pressing. Pressing the flannel bag forces fine pulp and cloudy solids into the liquid, making the vinegar murky and less clear. Letting it drip keeps the result clear.
“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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