Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 ↓
Cream Nectar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a pot, mix tartaric acid, Epsom salts, white sugar, and water.
Heat the mixture until it nearly boils, then remove from heat and let it cool.
Once cool, add the egg whites and lemon essence to taste.
Bottle the mixture.
Serve
To serve, pour about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into a tumbler filled nearly with water.
Add a little baking soda on the tip of a spoon and stir briskly.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Tartaric acid
- Provides the sharp, acidic bite that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
- White sugar
- Supplies sweetness and body to the syrup.
- Egg whites
- Add foam-forming proteins that give the drink a light, frothy texture.
- Baking soda (in the method)
- Reacts with the acid when stirred in, releasing carbon dioxide that fizzes and foams the drink.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda. Baking soda only should be added in a small pinch on a spoon tip, because it reacts vigorously with the tartaric acid. Too much at once causes overflow and an overly harsh, soapy taste, while stirring briskly spreads the reaction evenly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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