Why it works: Lemon and sugar 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 ↓
Effervescing Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon base
Squeeze the juice from the lemon and strain it.
Add the lemon juice to the cold water.
Sweeten the mixture with the sugar and mix well.
Add the soda and serve
Add the carbonate of soda, stir well, and drink while effervescing.
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.
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Lemon
- Provides the acidity that reacts with the soda and gives the drink its sharp flavour.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the lemon acid to release carbon dioxide, which makes the drink fizz.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Cold water
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour and keeps the drink cold and refreshing.
The step that matters
Add the carbonate of soda and drink right away. The fizz comes from carbon dioxide released the moment the soda meets the acid. That gas escapes quickly from the liquid, so the drink loses its effervescence if it is left to stand. Stir well and serve immediately.
“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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