Why it works: Lemon and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,235 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lemon Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon syrup
Remove the zest from the lemons and cut them in half crosswise.
Squeeze the juice and pulp into a small bowl, adding ½ cup of water.
Mix the juice and pulp with the syrup, adding enough water to make 1 quart.
Strain the mixture to remove lemon peel chips.
Freeze
Prepare two 2‑quart freezers by washing and drying them.
In a pail, mix 24 pounds of crushed ice with 2 pounds of fine salt.
Place the freezers in the ice mixture, ensuring the lids are secure.
Turn the freezers for about 5 minutes, then scrape the frozen ice from the sides.
Replace the lids and continue turning the freezers until the mixture is fully frozen.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Lemon + syruptop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Provide the juice and zest that give the water ice its bright, tart flavor.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and softens the texture by lowering the freezing point of the mixture.
- Rough ice
- Chills the freezers and, with salt, lowers the temperature enough to freeze the mixture.
- Fine salt
- Mixed with the ice to lower its melting point so the freezer cools the mixture quickly.
The step that matters
Turning the freezers and scraping the sides. Stirring the mixture as it freezes breaks up ice crystals, keeping the water ice smooth rather than coarse and icy. Scraping the frozen layer from the sides keeps it blended into the unfrozen mixture.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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