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 ↓
Violet Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Squeeze the juice from the lemons into a bowl.
Mix in the sifted powdered sugar until well combined.
Add the essence of violets and a small amount of Prussian blue food coloring to achieve a fine blue color. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Heat the mixture gently over low heat until it thickens, but do not make it too thin.
Shape and store
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto paper using a knife.
Allow the drops to cool completely.
Store the cooled drops in a paper-lined box.
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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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
- Lemons
- Provide the acidity and fresh citrus flavour that defines the drops.
- Powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and, with gentle heat, helps the mixture thicken into drops.
- Essence of violets
- Adds the characteristic violet aroma and flavour.
The step that matters
Heating over low heat. Gentle heat thickens the mixture without making it too thin. Too much heat or time can overcook the sugar and make the drops hard or sticky rather than set.
“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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