Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,082 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Creme De Menthe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil water and crushed sugar together until it forms a thick syrup.
Strain the syrup through a cloth and let it cool.
Flavor and finish
Once cool, add the oil of peppermint and best alcohol, then shake well.
Color the mixture with green vegetable coloring.
If the mixture is cloudy, dip the bottle in warm water for a few minutes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,082 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the water to form a thick, sweet syrup that gives the liqueur its body.
- Oil of peppermint
- Provides the concentrated mint aroma and flavor that defines the liqueur.
- Alcohol
- Carries the peppermint flavor and keeps the finished liqueur stable and well blended.
The step that matters
Adding the alcohol and peppermint to the cooled syrup. Alcohol and peppermint oil can separate or turn cloudy if added to hot syrup, so the syrup must be fully cool first. Shaking well then mixes the oil evenly through the liquid.
“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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