Why it works: Syrup and lemon 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 ↓
Cherry Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pound the cherries in a mortar to break the kernels.
Combine the cherries and kernels in a bowl.
Make and serve
Add 4 cups of syrup and the juice of 4 lemons.
Fill the rest with water to taste.
Pass the mixture through a sieve and serve.
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.
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Syrup + lemontop 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
- Kentish cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and natural sweetness and tartness for the drink.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and body, balancing the tartness of the lemon juice.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and brightness that lift the cherry flavor.
The step that matters
Pound the cherries to break the kernels. Cracking the kernels releases aromatic compounds that give the water a subtle almond-like flavor. Pounding only enough to split them keeps the flavor balanced.
“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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