Name: Orange Ice
Ingredients: four quarts water take five oranges; two pounds of sugar to this quantity in addition to the lumps of sugar used; three lemons

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange Ice

Ingredients

four quarts water take five oranges
two pounds of sugar to this quantity in addition to the lumps of sugar used
three lemons

Directions

Prepare

Take four quarts of water, five oranges, and three lemons.
Grate the rind of the oranges clean onto lumps of sugar, but only use the juice of the lemons.
Squeeze the pulps of the oranges and lemons, add boiling water, and let stand until cold.
Strain the water off.

Sweeten and freeze

Add about two pounds of sugar to this quantity in addition to the lumps of sugar used.
Freeze as usual.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

123Calories

2 gProtein

0 gFat

31 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
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
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 Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon 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

Sugar: Sweetens the mixture and helps keep the ice soft rather than rock-hard when frozen.
Oranges: Provide the main flavour, with rind oil for aroma and juice for sweetness and acidity.
Lemons: Add acidity that brightens the flavour of the orange ice.

“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.