Why it works: Lemon and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,206 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Strawberry Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Pick over and clean the strawberries.
Mash the strawberries in a basin with a wooden spoon.
Pass the mashed strawberries through a fine sieve.
Make and freeze the ice
Add lemon juice and syrup, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a freezing pot and work until smooth and creamy.
If it doesn't freeze sufficiently, add a drop of water.
Serve
Serve in molds or as a rough ice.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + strawberrytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,206 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Syrup + strawberrytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together332 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and the juice that forms the base of the ice.
- Syrup
- Sweetens the ice and lowers its freezing point so it stays softer.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the strawberry flavour.
The step that matters
Working the mixture in the freezing pot. Stirring and scraping as it freezes breaks up ice crystals, giving a smooth, creamy texture rather than a hard, coarse ice.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, strawberry):
- Vanillafits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Peachfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, strawberry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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