Name: A Syrup for Cleansing the Blood
Ingredients: 6 lbs sarsaparilla; 2 lbs bark of sassafras root; 2 lbs elder flowers; 2 lbs burdock; 3 oz guiacum; 1 gallon spirits; 1 gallon water; sugar to taste; ½ teaspoon carb. soda

Why it works: Spirit and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

A Syrup for Cleansing the Blood

Ingredients

Directions

Combine sarsaparilla, sassafras bark, elder flowers, burdock, and guiacum in a large pot.
Add spirits and water, then bring to a boil.
Boil and pour off the liquid repeatedly until the strength is retained.
Boil down the mixture to 6 quarts.
Add sugar to create a syrup consistency.
For each bottle, add ½ teaspoon of carb. soda.
Take 3 to 4 doses of ⅓ cup daily.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Spirit + sugartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Burdock + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Burdock + spirittop 35% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).