Name: Strawberry
Ingredients: ripe, firm strawberries; sugar; 50° syrup (thicker than strawberry preserves)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Strawberry

Ingredients

ripe, firm strawberries
sugar
50° syrup (thicker than strawberry preserves)

Directions

Select ripe, firm strawberries and pick them the same day.
Hull and rinse the strawberries.
Place them in a shallow platter in a single layer.
Sprinkle sugar over the strawberries.
Pour 50° syrup over them.
Cover with a glass dish or plain window glass.
Allow to stand in the hot sun for 8 to 12 hours.
Pack into hot screw-top jelly glasses.
Position the rubber and cap loosely.
Sterilize according to your method: 20 minutes in a water bath, 15 minutes in a water seal at 214°, or 10 minutes in steam pressure.
Tighten the covers after removing jars, invert to cool, and test the seal.
Wrap jars in paper to prevent bleaching.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + strawberrytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together332 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + strawberrytop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,060 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).