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 ↓
Syrup of Lemons
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar over gentle heat.
Skim off any scum that forms.
Add the lemon peel and let simmer for a few minutes.
Bottle and store
When cold, bottle and cork it tightly.
Store in a cool place.
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
- Lump sugar
- Dissolves to form the sweet base of the syrup.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Lemon peel
- Adds aromatic oils that flavour the syrup as it simmers.
The step that matters
Skim off any scum that forms. Scum rising during heating contains impurities that can cloud the syrup and affect its clarity and keeping quality, so removing it early produces a cleaner result.
“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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