Name: Raspberry Shrub
Ingredients: 1 pint vinegar; 1 pint raspberry juice; 1 pint sugar

Why it works: Vinegar and raspberry work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 303 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Raspberry Shrub

Ingredients

1 pint vinegar
1 pint raspberry juice
1 pint sugar

Directions

Prepare

Combine vinegar and raspberry juice, and let it stand overnight.
The next morning, strain the mixture.

Make the shrub

Add 1 pint of sugar to the strained juice.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Bottle the mixture while hot.

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.

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.

Vinegar + raspberrytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together303 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,101 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar: Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and gives the shrub its tang.
Raspberry juice: Supplies the main flavor and aroma, along with liquid for the syrup.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the acidity and helps preserve the mixture.