Name: Simple Syrup
Ingredients: 1 gallon water; ¼ ounce gelatin; 1½ pounds confectioner's sugar

Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Simple Syrup

Ingredients

1 gallon water
¼ ounce gelatin
1½ pounds confectioner's sugar

Directions

Make the syrup

In a large pot, add 1 gallon of water and ¼ ounce of gelatin.
Stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
Add 1½ pounds of confectioner's sugar and stir until dissolved.

Cool and store

Set aside to cool, then remove any scum that forms.
Transfer the syrup to an earthen jug for storage.

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.

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.

Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 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

Gelatin: Adds body and a slightly thicker texture to the syrup.
Confectioner's sugar: Provides sweetness and dissolves into the water to form the syrup.

“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.