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 for Invalids
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Thinly peel off the rind of the lemon.
Cut the lemon into two or three thick slices, removing as much of the white pith and all the seeds.
Steep and serve
Place the lemon slices, peel, and lump sugar into a jug.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture, cover it closely, and let it steep for two hours.
Strain or pour off the lemonade from the sediment before 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.
-
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
- Provides the sour flavour and aromatic oils from the peel, which steep into the liquid.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the drink and balances the lemon's acidity.
- Boiling water
- Acts as the solvent, drawing flavour and aroma out of the lemon during steeping.
The step that matters
Removing the pith. The white pith is bitter, and steeping draws that bitterness into the drink. Cutting away as much pith as possible keeps the lemonade clean-tasting while still letting the peel's aromatic oils flavour it.
“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.
More lemonade recipes
You might also like
Lemon Whey33 recipes
Lemon Wine31 recipes
Lemon Squash10 recipes
Lemon Essence8 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.