Name: Orange-Ginger Drink
Ingredients: 10-12 oranges; 8-10 cups water; 2 ozs Root Ginger or 2 Pints Ginger Ale lemonade; sugar to taste

Why it works: Orange and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,833 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Orange-Ginger Drink

Ingredients

10-12 oranges
8-10 cups water
2 ozs Root Ginger or 2 Pints Ginger Ale lemonade
sugar to taste

Directions

Prepare

Wash or scrub oranges, scrape and pound ginger root.

Make the drink

Put ginger to boil in water, cool, and strain.
Squeeze oranges and add to ginger or ginger ale lemonade.
Sweeten to taste. Serve cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

113Calories

1 gProtein

0 gFat

28 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together14,054 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Ginger root: Gives the drink its spicy aroma and flavour once simmered into the water.
Oranges: Supply the juice that gives the drink its bright citrus flavour and acidity.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the acidity of the orange juice and ginger.