Monday, January 17, 2011

Raspberry Vinegar



"Here is a pleasant 'refresher', specially suitable for the young after lawn tennis or sports on hot days, but acceptable also to their elders when exhausted by church, depressed by gardening, or exasperated by shopping."


"Take one pound of raspberries¹ to every pint best white vinegar². Let it stand for a fortnight in a covered jar in a cool larder. Then strain without pressure, and to every pint add 12 ounces white sugar³. Boil ten minutes, let cool and bottle in nice medium-sized bottles saved perhaps from some present of foreign liquers."


"A teaspoonful stirred into a tumbler of water with a lump of ice, or introduced to a very cold syphon will taste like the elixir of life on a hot day, and is as pretty as it is pleasant."

Recipe from "Kitchen Essays" by Lady Agnes Jekyll, 1922 (subsequent reprints, Persephone Classics)

¹ one pound = 450(ish) grams
² one pint (imperial) = roughly half a litre (0.568 ml)
³ 12 ounces = 340 grams

5 comments:

Alessandra said...

Cool, I am going to the South tonight, I look forward to fresh raspberries (pick your own), although I don't think I will have time to make the vinegar.

The jars looks good, did you put fresh raspberries back in? Could you use the marinated ones, or are they too 'mushy'?

ciao

A.

Judith said...

I have a glut of raspberries this year (lucky me!) so I have been making raspberry syrup: I bring a heap of berries and a little sugar (or sweetener depending on whether I am feeling fat or not) and a splash of white wine if I have it slowly to a gentle boil. Turn off the heat and let it sit for while, then strain. A spoonful in a glass of iced water is delicious.

Barbara said...

Sounds tasty and looks great.

hungryandfrozen said...

Hee, I absolutely love old-timey recipes and their way of describing things. Also the manner in which they'll coolly tell you to leave something for a fortnight. The colour is gorgeous, definitely looks like "the elixir of life"!

Nigel Olsen said...

Laura - I love the language! Clearly a product of its time; after all, who would of thought one could be 'exasperated shopping' in this consumerist age! The colour is fantastic & almost lurid.

Barb - Hello! It's very tasty, & not cloyingly sweet, although my tastebuds leave a lot to be desired.

Judith - Nice. I wouldn't mind giving that a go, or making a cordial or nectar too.

Alessandra - That's the second batch, I had some friends drop off some more raspberries a few days before I strained off batch #1. I love your holiday spot!