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Nectar Syrup, No. 6

A syrup made from pineapple, strawberry, and lemon, with a hint of bitter almond oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and strawberry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 433 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Nectar Syrup, No. 6

Ingredients

Directions

Combine

  1. Combine the pineapple syrup, strawberry syrup, and lemon syrup in a large container.

Flavor and store

  1. Add the oil of bitter almonds and mix well.

  2. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

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.

  1. Pineapple + strawberrytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together433 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Strawberry + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pineapple + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together428 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pineapple syrup
Provides sweetness and the base fruit flavor of the blend.
Strawberry syrup
Adds sweetness and a fruity strawberry flavor that rounds out the blend.
Lemon syrup
Adds sweetness and bright acidity that balances the sweeter fruit syrups.
Oil of bitter almonds
Adds a concentrated almond aroma and flavor in a very small amount.

The step that matters

Add the oil of bitter almonds and mix well. Bitter almond oil is very concentrated, so a small measure has a strong effect. Mixing thoroughly spreads it evenly through the liquid, so no portion tastes harsh and others weak.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, syrup, strawberry, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, syrup, strawberry, almond. 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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