Raspberry Syrup Recipe

How to make it

---

• Begin by stemming the raspberries, crushing them over a bowl with your hands as you might grapes, and setting them in the bowl in a cool place. Once the fruit begins to ferment, a process that will require about three days, stir the mixture twice daily until the cap (the skins, which will cover the liquid at first) ceases to rise through the liquid.
• Transfer the fruit, a ladle at a time, into a muslin bag, squeezing the bag to extract all the juice, and then filter the juice though filter paper two or more times, until the juice is crystal clear.
• Once you are done, you should have about 3 quarts of juice. Bring it to a boil , and add 10 pounds of powdered sugar (the kind that does not contain starch) to the pot, together with an ounce (by weight) of citric acid. Cook, stirring constantly with a spoon to keep the syrup from sticking, for two or three minutes, then transfer the syrup to sterile bottles, seal them, cool them, and store them in a cool dark place.
• Use the syrup to flavor ice water or Italian ices, or over ice cream, or in cakes and such. Even over pancakes!
• Variation: You can make Acetosa di Lamponi by substituting the citric acid with top quality wine vinegar, adding it to the syrup when you remove it from the fire.
• Variation: If you replace the raspberries with strawberries you will obtain an excellent strawberry syrup.
• Note: Italian recipes go by weight, and you should start with 6.6 pounds of juice. Since the juice will weigh slightly more than water, and 2.2 pounds of water = 1 liter, this should translate into roughly 3 quarts of juice. The weight of fruit necessary to get this volume? 7 to 8 pounds I would expect, depending upon how juicy your berries are.