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 ↓
Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine lemon juice, lemon peel, and sugar in a large pitcher.
Pour in boiling water and stir until sugar dissolves.
Cool and strain
Let the mixture cool, then strain to remove the lemon peel.
Adjust sweetness to taste, and dilute with water if desired.
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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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 juice
- Provides the sour, acidic flavor that defines the drink.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
- Lemon peel
- Adds aromatic oils that give the drink a fragrant lemon flavor.
The step that matters
Dissolve the sugar fully in the boiling water. Sugar dissolves much more readily in hot water. Undissolved grains settle at the bottom, so the lemonade tastes uneven and can be too sour at the top. Stirring until the liquid is clear helps the sweetness distribute evenly.
“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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