Name: Barley Broth
Ingredients: two quarts water; one cup table raisins an hour before you remove from stove; a cup of pearl barley; a quart of water; three lemons in a pitcher; salt

Why it works: Raisin and barley work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 57 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Barley Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Make the barley water

Wash a cup of pearl barley.
Combine a teacup of pearl barley with two quarts water; boil in a double porcelain boiler for two and a half hours.
Add one cup table raisins an hour before removing from stove.
Pour a quart of water over the barley and let boil until barley is quite soft.
Strain off the water, add salt, and give to patient several times a day.

Make the lemon drink

Squeeze the juice of three lemons into a pitcher, sweeten and salt to taste.
Strain the hot barley water over the lemon.
Pick out the raisins to add with the liquor.
Throw barley away.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

267Calories

5 gProtein

1 gFat

64 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Barley	1 cup cooked (157g)	193
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
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.

By Landmarks Club. 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. See the original page.

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.

Raisin + barleytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together57 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Barley + lemontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together484 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Pearl barley: Softens as it boils, releasing starch that thickens the liquid into a light broth.
Lemons: Add acidity that brightens the flat, starchy broth.
Raisins: Add sweetness and a mild fruity flavour as they soften in the hot liquid.