Why it works: Syrup and lemon 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 ↓
Mulberry Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Mash the ripe mulberries and strain to extract the juice.
Combine the mulberry juice, syrup, and lemon juice in a bowl.
Freeze
Freeze the mixture until it begins to set.
Stir the mixture to break up any ice crystals and freeze again until firm.
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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Syrup + lemontop 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
- Ripe mulberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and the juice that gives the ice its color and body.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer and less rock-hard.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the fruit flavor and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Stirring while freezing. Stirring the partly frozen mixture breaks up ice crystals as they form. Without it, the ice becomes coarse and grainy instead of smooth.
“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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