Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the lemon rind into pieces.
Combine the lemon juice, rind, and sugar in a closely covered jug or jar.
Steep and serve
Pour the boiling water over the mixture and cover.
Let it cool before serving.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sour, acidic flavour that defines the drink.
- Lemon rind
- Adds aromatic oils and a deeper lemon fragrance to the drink.
- Powdered sugar
- Balances the acidity with sweetness and dissolves quickly in hot water.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the mixture and cover. Hot water draws oils from the rind and dissolves the sugar, while covering traps the aromatic oils so they do not escape. Cooling too early or leaving the jar open weakens the flavour.
“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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