Name: Cederata Water Ice
Ingredients: 4 ounces essence of cederata; 3 lemons; 1 cup syrup; ½ pint water

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 ↓

Cederata Water Ice

Ingredients

4 ounces essence of cederata
3 lemons
1 cup syrup
½ pint water

Directions

Prepare

In a bowl, combine the essence of cedar and the juice of three lemons.
Add the syrup and water, then mix well.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.

Freeze

Freeze the mixture until rich and firm.
If desired, pour into a mold, seal it, and cover with brown paper before placing it in ice.

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.

Lemon + syruptop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Essence of cederata: Provides the main cedar aroma and flavour of the ice.
Lemons: Add acidity and brightness that balance the sweetness.
Syrup: Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer rather than rock-hard.

“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.