Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Strawberry Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Take one cupful of ripe hulled berries.
Crush the berries with a wooden spoon.
Mix the crushed berries with a quarter of a pound of pulverized sugar and half a pint of cold water.
Pour the mixture into a fine sieve.
Rub through and filter until clear.
Finish and chill
Add the strained juice, one lemon, and one and a half pints of cold water, then mix thoroughly.
Set in an ice chest until desired.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
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.
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Ripe hulled berries
- Supplies the main fruit flavour and colour of the water.
- Pulverized sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the sourness of the lemon.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and a bright citrus aroma.
The step that matters
Rub through and filter until clear. Pressing the crushed fruit through a fine sieve and filtering removes pulp and solids, so the finished water looks clear rather than cloudy.
“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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