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 ↓
Lemon Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the lemon rind in 2 cups of cold water for 30 minutes.
Drain and chop the rind very fine, then add the lemon pulp (seeds removed) and 1 cup of fresh water.
Cook
Cook gently over low heat until the rind is very soft, about 1 hour.
Add 1 cup of sugar and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Skim off the fine yellow froth that forms on the surface.
Serve
Once cool, transfer the marmalade to a glass dish for serving.
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 rind
- Provides the aroma, bitter citrus flavour and pectin that helps the marmalade set.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the pectin, helps the marmalade thicken as it cooks.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar and cooking it down. Once sugar is added, the mixture thickens and can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Stirring often and keeping the heat gentle prevents burnt flavour and sticking.
“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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