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 ↓
Cherry Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate the cherries
Combine the broken cherries and vinegar in a container.
Let the mixture stand for three days.
Press the juice from the mixture through a jelly bag.
Make and bottle the vinegar
Add ¾ pound of white sugar to the extracted juice.
Boil the mixture for 12 minutes, skimming off any foam.
Once cooled, bottle and cork the vinegar 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
- Cherries
- Supply the fruit flavor and juice that make up the body of the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidic base that carries the flavor and helps preserve the finished liquid.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the acid.
The step that matters
Boil for 12 minutes, skimming off any foam. Foam rises as the fruit proteins and impurities come to the surface during boiling. Skimming it off keeps the finished vinegar clear and free of off-flavors that would otherwise mix back in as it cools.
“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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