Name: Raspberry Vinegar
Ingredients: 2 cups ripe raspberries; 2 cups cider vinegar; 1 pound loaf sugar

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Raspberry Vinegar

Ingredients

2 cups ripe raspberries
2 cups cider vinegar
1 pound loaf sugar

Directions

Infuse the raspberries

Place the raspberries in a stone jar and cover them with cider vinegar.
Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.
Pour the liquid over a gallon of fresh raspberries.
Let it sit overnight.

Sweeten and bottle

Add 1 pound of loaf sugar to 1 pint of the juice.
Boil the mixture.
Skim the mixture.
Bottle the raspberry vinegar.

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,308 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Raspberries: Provide the main fruit flavor and aroma that the vinegar takes up.
Cider vinegar: Extracts the raspberry flavor and adds the tart acidity that defines the drink.
Loaf sugar: Sweetens the liquid and balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar.

“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.