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 ↓
Linseed Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the bruised linseed and liquorice-root in a jug.
Pour the boiling water over the ingredients.
Lightly cover the jug and let it sit near a fire for 3 to 4 hours.
Strain and serve
Strain the mixture through linen to prepare it for use.
Add sliced lemon and sugar candy to taste, if desired.
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
- Linseed
- Its mucilage dissolves into the hot water, giving the tea a soothing, slightly thick body.
- Liquorice root
- Releases its natural sweetness and aromatic compounds into the water, flavouring the infusion.
The step that matters
Covering the jug during the infusion. Covering keeps heat and aromatic compounds in the liquid, so the steep extracts evenly over the long rest instead of cooling early and losing 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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