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 ↓
Cherry- Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cherries
Stone and bruise the cherries in a mortar with the kernels.
Make the mixture
Add the lemon juice, water, and sugar; mix well.
Add the cochineal and noyeau.
Strain the mixture and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Kentish cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour base for the ice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the cherry flavour and balances the sugar.
- Clarified sugar
- Sweetens the ice and lowers the freezing point for a smoother texture.
- Noyeau
- Adds a bitter almond aroma that complements the cherry flavour.
- Cochineal
- Provides a deep red colour to the finished ice.
The step that matters
Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Sugar and fruit juice lower the freezing point, so the mixture stays partly liquid at normal freezer temperatures. Churning while it freezes breaks up ice crystals and keeps the texture smooth rather than hard and icy.
“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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