Why it works: Lemon and syrup 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 ↓
Iced Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemonade
Put the zest of the lemons into a basin.
Add the juice of the lemons and sweeten with syrup.
Add enough spring water to taste.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
Pour into a large jug or stone bottle.
Chill
Set the jug in a tub surrounded by pounded ice and a little salt.
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 + syruptop 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
- Lemon zest
- Adds aromatic oil that gives the lemonade its strong lemon fragrance.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the drink's flavour.
- Syrup
- Sweetens the acidic juice so the drink tastes balanced.
- Spring water
- Dilutes the juice and syrup to a drinkable strength.
- Pounded ice
- Chills the jug quickly, keeping the lemonade cold without diluting it much.
The step that matters
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Straining removes zest, pulp and seeds so the lemonade is smooth and clear, not gritty or bitter from the oils and pith.
“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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