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Black Currant Yinegar

A vinegar made by boiling black currant juice with vinegar and honey.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and honey are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,586 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Black Currant Yinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Express the juice from the black currants.

  2. In a skillet, combine the currant juice, vinegar, and honey.

  3. Boil the mixture, skimming and stirring with a wooden spoon for 45 minutes.

Bottle and rest

  1. Allow to cool, then pour into bottles.

  2. Leave the bottles uncorked in a warm cupboard for 10 days.

  3. After 10 days, cork and seal the bottles.

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 + honeytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Black currant + honeytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Black currant + vinegartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Black currants
Provide the main tart, fruity flavor and aroma of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the honey and currants.
Honey
Adds sweetness and a thicker, syrupy body to the finished vinegar.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture, skimming and stirring. Boiling concentrates the liquid and drives off harsh notes, while stirring keeps the honey from scorching on the bottom of the skillet. Skimming removes foam and impurities that could spoil the flavor and clarity.

Swap the black currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, honey):

  1. Grapefits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Black currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, honey. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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