Name: Spiced Flavor for Punches
Ingredients: 1 lb Tincture of Cloves; 1 lb Cinnamon; 1 lb Orange Flower Water; 3 lb Lemon Peel Distillate; 4½ lb Orange Peel

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Spiced Flavor for Punches

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large container and mix thoroughly until well combined.
Use 1 oz of the mixture per gallon of hot beverage.

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.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,437 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Clove + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,987 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tincture of cloves: Provides the warm, spicy aroma that defines the punch flavoring.
Cinnamon: Adds warm, sweet spice aroma to the flavoring blend.
Orange flower water: Contributes a light floral aroma that lifts the citrus notes.
Lemon peel distillate: Adds bright, sharp citrus aroma and flavor.
Orange peel: Adds sweet citrus aroma and flavor from the peel oils.