Name: Raspberry and Currant Ice
Ingredients: 3 cups water; 2 cups sugar; 2 cups raspberry juice; 1⅓ cups currant juice; 1 teaspoon gelatin; 2 tablespoons cold water

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Raspberry and Currant Ice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Soften the gelatin in cold water.
In a saucepan, combine sugar and water to make a syrup.

Make and freeze

Add the mashed raspberries and currants, then strain through double cheesecloth.
Mix the strained juice with the syrup and freeze.

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.

Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Raspberry + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together366 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
Sugar + raspberrytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,101 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Raspberry + gelatintop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together88 recipes

Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Sugar + curranttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,256 recipes

Sugar and currant barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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

Raspberry juice: Provides the main fruit flavor and a bright red color.
Currant juice: Adds tart acidity that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and softens the texture of the frozen ice.
Gelatin: Helps stabilize the mixture and gives the ice a smoother, more cohesive body.