Framboise (raspberry brandy) rewards a little know-how: how to choose it, cook it, store it, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 12 recipes to cook with it.

What is framboise (raspberry brandy)?

Framboise is a clear, unaged fruit brandy distilled from raspberries. It finishes dry rather than sweet, carrying an intense aroma of the fresh fruit with very little sugar on the palate.

In French it simply means raspberry. On a bottle it almost always points to the eau-de-vie style made famous in Alsace and across the Rhine in Germany's Black Forest.

People confuse it with raspberry liqueur, and the two behave nothing alike. The eau-de-vie runs 40 to 45 percent alcohol and finishes bone dry, while a sweet liqueur like Chambord is thick and closer to 16 to 20 percent.

If a dessert wants fragrance without added sugar, the brandy is the one it means.

It takes a startling amount of fruit to make. Distillers use somewhere around 20 to 40 pounds of raspberries for a single bottle, which is why true framboise is expensive and why a little goes a long way.

Cooking With Framboise

Use it the way you would use vanilla: in drops, not glugs. A teaspoon or two folded into whipped cream or a fruit coulis lifts the whole thing without anyone tasting alcohol.

Our Raspberry Honey-Almond Parfait and Frozen Raspberry Souffle both lean on that trick, where the brandy sharpens the berry flavor that freezing tends to mute.

It loves chocolate, too. In Chocolate Raspberry Almond Torte the framboise is brushed onto the layers so the fruit note survives the cocoa, and a few drops stirred into ganache do the same job.

Savory uses exist, though they are rarer. Braised Endive with Framboise deglazes the pan with it, the acidity cutting through the butter and the slight bitterness of the endive.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Raspberries, dark chocolate, almonds, vanilla, and ripe stone fruit are its natural partners, and it flatters cream-based desserts more than it does dense cakes. A whisper goes into a peach or a black cherry dessert and reads as ripeness rather than as booze.

The biggest mistake is treating it like a sweet liqueur and pouring it by the ounce. Because it carries no sugar, too much framboise tastes raw and hot instead of fruity, and it can curdle a delicate custard if it goes in cold.

Add it off the heat, a little at a time, and taste as you go.

The second mistake is buying the wrong bottle. A label reading framboise liqueur or creme de framboise is the sweet kind and will throw off the sugar balance of a recipe written for the dry eau-de-vie.

Substitutes

For a true dry eau-de-vie, kirsch (cherry brandy) is the closest swap, used in the same tiny amounts. It shifts the fruit from raspberry toward cherry but keeps the dry, aromatic character. Plain unflavored brandy works in a pinch, with a little extra raspberry coming from the fruit itself.

If all you have is a sweet raspberry liqueur such as Chambord, you can use it, but cut the recipe's other sugar slightly and expect a rounder, less sharp result.

For an alcohol-free version, raspberry extract or a spoonful of seedless raspberry jam thinned with a drop of water gives the aroma, though neither has the clean dry edge.

Buying and Storing

Look for a bottle labeled framboise eau-de-vie, ideally from Alsace or Germany, where it is a traditional craft. The good stuff is colorless. Framboise is not aged in wood, so any deep color suggests added coloring or a liqueur in disguise.

Because it is high-proof spirit, framboise keeps almost indefinitely. Store the bottle upright, tightly closed, away from heat and direct light, and it will hold its aroma for years.

Unlike a cream liqueur, it never needs refrigeration.

Buy the smallest bottle you can find unless you bake constantly. Most recipes call for a teaspoon to a tablespoon, so a half bottle can outlast several years of holiday baking. It also makes a fragrant addition to Framboise Raspberry Jam if you want to use it up.

Quick facts

In Chinese

framboise（覆盆子白兰地）

British (UK) term

Framboise (raspberry brandy)

en français

framboise (framboise brandy)

en español

Framboise (aguardiente de frambuesa)

Recipes using framboise (raspberry brandy)

There are 12 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 12 recipes