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Linseed Tea

Linseed tea is a beverage made by boiling water with linseed, onions, lemon juice, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Linseed Tea

Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Linseed Tea

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil 1 quart of water.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of linseed and 2 onions to the boiling water.

  3. Boil for a few minutes, then strain the mixture.

  4. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and sugar to taste.

  5. If the tea thickens, add a little boiling water.

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.

  1. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  2. Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Onion + sugartop 36% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Linseed
Releases mucilage into the hot water, which thickens the liquid as it cools.
Onions
Add savoury aroma and a mild flavour to the boiled liquid.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sugar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness, adjusted to taste.

The step that matters

Boiling and straining the linseed mixture. Linseed releases mucilage as it simmers, and this gum is what thickens the liquid. Straining removes the seeds and onion solids, leaving a smooth tea. If the tea sets too thick as it cools, adding a little boiling water thins it back.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Kalefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar. 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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