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 Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Cut the thin yellow rind from the lemons and remove all the white pith.
Cut the lemons into thin slices and remove the pips.
Infuse and strain
Put the rind and slices into a jug with the sugar.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture.
Let it stand until cold, then strain.
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
- Lemons
- Provide the main acidity and aroma, with rind oils flavouring the water.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sharp acidity of the lemon.
The step that matters
Remove all the white pith. Pith is bitter and dissolves little in the water, so leaving it in makes the drink taste harsh and bitter. Peel only the thin yellow rind.
“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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