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
Prepare the infusion
Pick the raspberries from the stalks.
Place 1½ pints into a stone jar.
Pour 3 pints of vinegar over the raspberries and let them sit for 24 hours.
Strain the liquid over another 1½ pints of fresh raspberries and let sit for another 24 hours.
Repeat the process one more time.
Drain off the liquid without pressing.
Pass the liquid through a wet jelly bag into a stone jar.
Sweeten and finish
Add 1 lb of powdered sugar to every pint of liquid.
Stir until dissolved.
Cover the jar.
Place it in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 hour, skimming off any scum.
Add ⅓ cup of brandy for each pint of liquid.
Bottle and seal the corks.
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 fruit flavour and colour that the vinegar draws out over repeated steeping.
- Vinegar
- Extracts the raspberry flavour and acts as the sharp, acidic base of the drink.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sharp vinegar and balances its acidity.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol that helps preserve the finished vinegar and contributes aroma.
The step that matters
Draining without pressing. Squeezing the raspberries forces pulp and seeds into the liquid, which makes the result cloudy and can add bitterness. Letting it drain naturally keeps the syrup 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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