Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lemon Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Rub sugar on the rinds of the lemons.
Make the syrup using the sugar and the rinds.
Mix and freeze
Strain the lemon juice and add it to the syrup.
Stir the mixture well.
Pour the mixture into a freezing can.
Freeze until thoroughly and evenly frozen.
Serve
Serve in ice glasses.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and draws oils from the lemon rinds into it.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright lemon flavour to the frozen mixture.
- Lemon rinds
- Provide aromatic oils that flavour the syrup.
The step that matters
Freeze until thoroughly and evenly frozen. Ice crystals form as the mixture freezes; stirring during freezing keeps them small and the texture smooth. Uneven freezing leaves icy pockets and hard edges.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Pearfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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