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Raspberry vinegar recipe

 

Home grown organic raspberries

Home grown organic raspberries

My friend Teresa introduced me to raspberry vinegar. She had made a dressing for a hot goat’s cheese salad using olive oil, raspberry vinegar and honey. It was out of this world – sweet yet tart. A raspberry lover’s dream dressing.

The dressing had me searching the shops for raspberry vinegar the next day. As far as I remember it was quite expensive. And after an extended period of over indulgence in warm soft goat’s cheese salads it fell out of favour and got lost on the shelves in the larder.

Following the success of the homemade orange vinegar, I decided to make some raspberry vinegar using some of our home grown organic fruit that I found in the freezer. It was so easy to make and tastes amazing – far more intense than commercially produced lines.

My mum mentioned that my grandmother used to drink raspberry vinegar mixed with iced water as a child.
“She said it was delicious and promised to make it for us. But she never did.”
This sounded pretty grim to me until I sampled my homemade raspberry vinegar. A little research on the Internet led me to these recipes for raspberry ‘shrub’ vinegar. I nearly didn’t follow up this lead as I assumed it was a raspberry tonic for shrubs! The raspberry vinegar is sweetened and made into a cordial.  Properly bottled and corked it can be stored for years.

All my raspberry vinegar has been bottled and wrapped for the gate side stand. But today I’m going to make another batch and then give the cordial a whirl. Finally after all these years my mum will be able to taste raspberry vinegar as a refreshing summer drink.


 

This post has been entered for the grow your own January 2010 hosted by House of Annie.

 

Raspberry vinegar recipe
Recipe Type: Condiments
Author: Fiona Nevile
Prep time: 20 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Ingredients
  • Equipment – A 1.5 litre Le Parfait jar with a rubber seal and a funnel
  • 500g of raspberries
  • Approx 1250ml of white wine vinegar
  • Half a teaspoon of good Balsamic vinegar (secret ingredient)
  • A few raspberries for decoration before bottling
Instructions
  1. Pick over the raspberries discarding any bad ones. Wash and shake dry.
  2. Meanwhile heat the white wine vinegar in a non reactive saucepan (not aluminium) and wash, dry and sterilise the Le Parfait jar in a medium oven.
  3. When the vinegar has reached boiling point carefully remove the Le Parfait jar from the oven and place it on a wooden board. I put on the rubber seal at this stage, using oven gloves.
  4. Put the raspberries into the jar and using a funnel pour the hot vinegar over the raspberries leaving a 2cm gap from the top of the jar. Seal immediately and leave to seep for 14 days.
  5. Line a sieve with sterilised muslin and strain the vinegar. Pour the vinegar into glass bottles pop in a few fresh raspberries for decoration and seal with plastic lined lids.
  6. This batch filled 6x227ml bottles.

  Leave a reply

20 Comments

  1. Been looking for a successful recipe for some time now. Thank you.
    Just one thing, at what stage do you add the Balsamic?

  2. Thank you so much! I bought some wonderful raspberry vinegar from a farm shop in Somerset last year and want to make some more.

    Suky – Seville Gin? Tell more, please!

  3. At last, a liquid recipe that isn’t alcohol!!!!!!!! LOL
    You know I don’t drink 🙂 (that’s why there is a bottle of seville gin in the pantry keeping the raspberry abd blackberry vodkas company. You really are a bad influence on me!

  4. My grandmother used to make this.

    She gave it to us in hot water with a spoon of sugar before bedtime in winter – it was warming and comforting, and particularly good when you had a cold. I can smell it now!

    • Joy to my heart, I have wanted to reproduce raspberry vinegar since my mother passed away and so glad to hear someone else understands why…
      With two brothers we would be dosed up with the same liquid which was amazing when we had colds.
      It is a must for a sore throat or annoying cough. warm it up and enjoy as well as cold…

  5. hopflower

    It is actually raspberry leaves that help in delivery; not the fruit themselves. You also have to drink a LOT of raspberry leaf tea (about one quart) per day to do this. I do applaud the approach to caution, though, to anyone concerning various natural aids.

    This recipe sounds wonderful and I am going to try it. Thank you.

  6. Patricia

    I LOVE this “recipe” because raspberries are one of my favorite “gifts to myself”. And they are normally onsale here in the NorthEast US, imported from South or Central America in the winter and I’ve never found a “good” use for these great buys. I can’t pass a sale of $2 for a 1/2 pint of raspberries for the end up in my oatmeal, squished directly on toast, in yogurt – and NOW in a special vinegar. Will buy raspberries and goat cheese at the market this weekend – again, I thank you from the bottom of my tummy (LOL).
    PatsyAnne

  7. petoskystone

    like my aunt & uncle, i add a a teaspoon or so of apple cider vinegar to a *large* glass of water on a daily basis. it adds a little apple tartness to tap water & (i have read) is good for the cholestral level.

  8. Toffeeapple

    That sounds delicious Fiona, I love anything that tastes of raspberries.

    Interesting information from Mandi too.

  9. Sounds wonderful but a quick word of warning on raspberry vinegar, or raspberries in fact.
    Pre 1960’s raspberries ( and rasp leaves) were a big ingrediant to certain ‘back street’ medicines for ladies who had found themselves in a compromising situation if you understand my meaning.
    Raspberries have a very strong effect of purging the body and if you are over sensitive to them or eat too many they can have the effect of causing ‘ladies’ time to be painful heavy and irregular.
    Anyone who suffers already from these sorts of problems or is trying for a baby or indeed in the early stages of pregnancy should avoid raspberry products. Just a health tip.

  10. brightsprite

    Thanks Fn, this sounds wonderful – with the amount of raspberry plants we have, that sounds like this year I’ll be making some of this!

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