Heaven on Earth

Heaven on Earth

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Raspberry Spice Vinegar

OK,  I know I've been posting a lot about raspberries.  It's only because I have been knee-deep in them for the last several weeks.  My Canby reds are just about done and my Fall Golds are starting up.  Thus, you may see a few gold ones popping up in the photos.  Even though I am glad the harvest is slowing down...what to do with the stragglers when the canes look like this?




The berries taste great, they just don't look as pretty as the ones I picked at the beginning of the harvest.  Some are sunburned, some are very small, some get a bit smashed in the picking bucket and there aren't enough from the morning's picking to make many recipes.  So we eat them out of hand or on our cereal or...

I make some raspberry vinegar from the gleanings. 

 Have you ever purchased raspberry vinegar in a specialty store?  It's expensive to buy, but very affordable if you make it at home.
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You'll need a non-reactive sauce pan.  Stainless steel or enamel covered pans like my white one (see photo below) will do fine.  Vinegar reacts with aluminum or some of the other metals and turns a funny color as well as produces bad flavors.  Prepare the vinegar by following the recipe below. 
If I am giving the vinegar as a gift, I will let the vinegar sit in a quart jar for a few weeks and then remove the old spices.  I then pour it into a decorative bottle with a few fresh raspberries and a just few new spices.  You can also water bath can this vinegar in small jars for later use.


Decorate the outside of the bottle with a pretty ingredient label or tag which identifies what's in the bottle and some pretty raffia or ribbon.  You can tuck a sprig of fresh or silk berries into whatever you tied around the bottle neck. 
This makes a great teacher gift or a nice inexpensive hostess gift.  Or you can always do what I do and just display a pretty red bottle of the raspberry vinegar on your kitchen counter or shelf.  Keep a bottle or two for yourself because it makes VERY GOOD vinaigrette and is lovely splashed over fresh fruit.   There are endless uses for this colorful, pretty concoction.  Let your creative juices flow.




Red Raspberry Spice Vinegar
1 pint of fresh raspberries, washed, drained, and picked clean of debris
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 quart of good red wine vinegar
2-6inch pieces of stick cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of whole allspice berries
2 Tablespoons of whole cloves

In a non-reactive saucepan stir the raspberries, sugar and vinegar together.  Bring to a simmer and cook for at least 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool and cover.  Let the berry mixture sit at least 8 hours on the counter.  Strain the vinegar through a water dampened coffee filter set inside a strainer over a clean bowl.  Let the liquid drip slowly without forcing, so the vinegar will be clear.  It may take a while for all the liquid to drip through the filter.  Discard the solids.

Put the whole spices into a clean bottle that has a lid or cork. Pour the vinegar over and cap.  Let the vinegar steep in the spices for at least one week before using.

This is my submission to Two for Tuesdays this week.  See what others cooked up here.http://amoderatelife.com/2010/07/two-for-tuesday-recipe-blog-hop-volume-7/

15 comments:

  1. Mmmmm.. this looks wonderful. I love flavored vinegars! I'm trying hard not to be envious of your beautiful garden and raspberry patch. sigh. But, its fun to live vicariously thru your blog. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I don't think I've ever even had raspberry vinegar! Besides looking beautiful(love the presentation), I bet it tastes wonderful and smells fantastic!

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  3. I can only imagine how fabulous this tastes. Love the gorgeous bottle.

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  4. What a lovely way to preserve fruit. I just wish we got raspberries here.

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  5. Lovely, lovely, lovely! Who wouldn't feel special receiving this as a gift.

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  6. I love flavored vinegars, but never made any myself. I was just talking about making some over grown tarragon into a nice vinegar- what kind of vinegar would you suggest starting with?

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  7. Cristie,

    With tarragon I'd use a good white wine vinegar or maybe a champagne vinegar. I love tarragon and the plants in my garden are not doing too well. I'm still hoping they'll take off. Have you been using your taragon to make the wonderful tarragon chicken salad we talked about? Yummm....

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  8. Bon bon, I have a HUGE wild raspberry patch and never even THOUGHT to make vinegarette out of the not perfect berries! Thank you so much for expanding my horizons yet again! You are so knowledgeable and you write so well and your passion for food and life simply shines through! Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing this on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop! :) Alex@amoderatelife

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  9. I sure would be happy to receive this as a gift! My own raspberry patch is small, so I saved every day's harvest in the freezer, until I had enough with which to make something. I can't wait to see your golden raspberries.

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  10. Raspberry vinegar is such a useful ingredient and yours looks beautiful. What a lovely gift it makes!

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  11. What a perfect way to use the not-as-pretty berries!! Sounds soooo good. thanks for sharing with Two for Tuesdays =)

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  12. You are so luck to have your own raspberries! I'm loving that raspberry vinegar.

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  13. Thanks for adding this recipe to my canning linky! The bottle is so beautiful! I've never seen anything like it!

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  14. I would love to receive the raspberry vinegar as a gift - it is filled with the tastes of summer! Thanks for linking to Two for Tuesdays.

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  15. I have wanted to make raspberry vinegar; this looks great. Do you know how long it will keep?

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