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Drink

Ginger Water Ice

A chilled ginger-infused beverage made by boiling water, sugar, ginger, orange juice, and lemon juice, then cooling and freezing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ginger Water Ice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine 4 cups water, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 pound Canton ginger, 1/4 cup orange juice, and 1/4 cup lemon juice.

  2. Boil the mixture for fifteen minutes.

  3. Add ginger cut into small pieces and the fruit juice.

  4. Cool the mixture and freeze.

Ginger-only variation

  1. If you wish only the ginger flavor, without the pieces of ginger, boil the ginger with the sugar and water.

  2. Add fruit juice.

  3. When cool, strain and freeze.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

63Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
17 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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Waternot in our table0

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

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [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.

  1. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

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

Sugar and ginger 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and keeps the ice softer by lowering its freezing point.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the ice.
Ginger
Provides the main aroma and spicy flavour of the ice.
Water
Forms the liquid base that freezes into the ice.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before freezing. A hot syrup freezes slowly and unevenly, which can give larger ice crystals and a coarse texture. Letting it cool fully first helps the ice freeze smoothly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Orangefits about as well
  3. Limefits less well
  4. Vanillafits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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