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Raspberry Vinegar
4 quarts raspberries 1 quart vinegar Sugar Put two quarts of raspberries in a bowl and cover them with the vinegar; cover and stand in a cool place for two days. Mash the berries; strain the vinegar through cheesecloth; pour it over two quarts of fresh raspberries; let stand for another two days; strain and put in a preserving kettle with sugar, allowing a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Heat slowly, skimming when the vinegar begins to boil. Boil twenty minutes and put in sterilized bottles. Serve as a drink, using two tablespoons to a glass of water.
This is a shrub — a sweetened drinking vinegar — made by double-steeping raspberries in the same vinegar to concentrate the fruit. The method is sound; only the equipment and a few unstated assumptions need translating.
- The hinge: use the second steepThe point of pouring the strained vinegar over a fresh two quarts is to double the fruit without doubling the vinegar. Skipping it gives a thin, sharp syrup rather than the deep raspberry flavour the recipe is after.
- What vinegarCider or white wine vinegar is the likely intention; household vinegar of the period was not standardised to today's 5 percent, so strength varied. Distilled white works but is harsh; malt and balsamic are wrong for this.
- Non-reactive vessels onlySteep in glass, ceramic or stainless and boil in a stainless or enamelled pan. Vinegar left standing two days in aluminium, copper or bare cast iron will pick up metal and off-flavours.
- "A cool place"Cellar temperature rather than room temperature. A refrigerator is the modern equivalent and safer over four days of standing; expect slightly slower extraction.
- The sugar ratioA pound of sugar to a pint of juice is roughly 2 1/4 cups sugar per 2 cups liquid by volume — a heavy syrup, which is what keeps an opened bottle stable. Cutting it substantially makes a product that must be refrigerated and used quickly.
- Twenty minutes of boilingThat will reduce and thicken the syrup noticeably. If you want a pourable cordial rather than a thick one, watch it and pull it when it coats a spoon lightly.
- BottlingSterilize bottles in boiling water and fill while both syrup and glass are hot, leaving a little headspace. This is a high-acid, high-sugar syrup, so it keeps well, but it is not processed in a canner — store sealed bottles in a cool dark place and refrigerate after opening.
- Yield and servingFour quarts of berries and a quart of vinegar give roughly three to four pints of finished syrup, depending on how far you reduce. Two tablespoons to a glass of water is the stated dilution; it is also good over soda water or ice cream.
Raspberry vinegar belongs to the family of drinks called shrubs, from the Arabic sharāb, meaning a drink, and it reached English and American kitchens as a way of keeping summer fruit in a form that would not ferment. Before refrigeration, sugar and acetic acid together made a fruit syrup that kept well in the pantry. It had a second life as a sickroom drink: nineteenth-century domestic manuals recommended diluted raspberry vinegar for fevers and sore throats, on the reasoning that a tart cold drink was both cooling and appetising. It is often said to have been a staple of temperance entertaining, offering something more interesting than water at a table where wine was not served. The double-steeping method here, using one batch of vinegar on two batches of berries, is an economical version found in household books of the period.