Name: Cough Mixture
Ingredients: two quarts of rain water; one pound of raisins; one quart; two tablespoons three times daily; a pound of rock candy; five cents worth of licorice; vinegar

Why it works: Raisin and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 769 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cough Mixture

Ingredients

Directions

Two quarts of rain water, one pound of raisins, five cents worth of licorice, a fourth of a pound of rock candy. Boil this to one quart and strain it. Take two tablespoons three times daily; add- ing a little vinegar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

65Calories

1 gProtein

0 gFat

16 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 4 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Water	not in our table	0
Licorice	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 Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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 + vinegartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together769 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + licoricetop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Licorice + vinegartop 38% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).