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Dessert

Orange Sherbet

A frozen dessert made from orange and lemon juice, sugar, water, and grated orange rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fredonia, N.Y. Trinity parish guild, comp. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Orange Sherbet

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 Sherbet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Juice 10 oranges.

  2. Juice 6 lemons.

  3. Grate rind of 2 oranges.

Make the syrup

  1. Add 4 cups sugar and 1 quart water.

  2. Cover sugar with water and add grated rind.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Strain.

  5. Stand aside to cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. When cold, add orange juice, lemon juice, and water.

  2. Freeze in a gallon freezer.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

123Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
31 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

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

By Fredonia, N.Y. Trinity parish guild, comp. [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.

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 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 sherbet and lowers the freezing point, keeping the texture soft and scoopable.
Oranges
Provide the main citrus flavor and juice, adding sweetness and acidity.
Lemons
Add acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.

The step that matters

Cool the syrup fully before adding the juices. Adding juice to warm syrup can dull fresh citrus flavor and slows freezing. A fully cold base freezes more evenly, giving a smoother, finer ice crystal texture.

“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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