Name: Rum, Molasses and Ginger
Ingredients: 1 cup West India rum; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup spring water; 3 tablespoons ginger

Why it works: Rum and ginger work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 229 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Rum, Molasses and Ginger

Ingredients

1 cup West India rum
1 cup molasses
1 cup spring water
3 tablespoons ginger

Directions

Combine the rum, molasses, and spring water in a glass.
Add the ginger and mix well.
Drink the mixture to help relieve cholera morbus.

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.

Rum + gingertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together229 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rum + molassestop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together56 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).