Too many raspberries? This delicious vinegar will elevate salad dressings, soups, gravies and casseroles. Or, pour some into a small jug and stir in some chopped fresh mint leaves to have with roast lamb. In Autumn blackberries would work well in place of raspberries.
You need to allow 3 to 5 days for the fruit to soak in vinegar, so it is a slow process, but it is worth the wait and is easy to make.
500g raspberries, washed
600-700mls white wine vinegar
300g granulated or caster sugar
You will also need a *sterilised bottle or two (the recipe will produce about 850mls of vinegar) and a plastic sieve or clean piece of muslin for straining the fruit. Also, a small funnel is useful to pour the vinegar into the bottles.
Put the raspberries in a shallow dish and add the vinegar – the berries should be completely immersed. Cover the dish and leave in a cool place for 3 to 5 days.
After that, *sterilise the bottles.
Strain the vinegar through a plastic sieve or muslin into a pan large enough to allow the mixture to come to the boil without spilling over.
Add the sugar.
Set the pan over low heat and stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.
Raise the heat, let the vinegar boil rapidly for 6 minutes and then remove the pan from the heat.
Let it cool a little before filling the bottles.
The vinegar will keep for at least one year.
*
* To sterilise bottles:
Preheat the oven to 120c.
Wash the bottles and lids in hot soapy water.
Rinse them in clean water.
Lay them on a clean baking tray.
Put them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Handle them with a clean cloth.
