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 ↓
Blackberry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mash the blackberries.
Pour the vinegar over the mashed blackberries.
Cover and let it stand in a basin for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture through a flannel bag.
Make the syrup
For each pint of liquid, add 1 lb. of lump sugar.
Boil for 20 minutes or until it thickens.
Bottle
When cold, bottle it tightly.
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
- Blackberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour, and the pectin and body that thicken the liquid.
- Vinegar
- Extracts the fruit flavour and adds the sharp acidity that balances the sugar.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the liquid and, when boiled, thickens it into a syrup.
The step that matters
Boil until it thickens. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar, so the syrup sets as it cools. Stopping too early leaves it thin, while overboiling can make it sticky or dark.
“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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