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 ↓
Cranberry Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Cook and strain
Cook cranberries with 1 cup of water until soft.
Add 1½ cups sugar and mix well.
Strain through a sieve, adding ½ cup of water as needed.
Finish and freeze
Stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
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
- Cranberries
- Provide the main tart flavor, bright color, and body for the ice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer and scoopable.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.
The step that matters
Freeze the mixture until solid.. Sugar and acid lower the freezing point of the liquid, so the mixture freezes more slowly and forms smaller ice crystals. Too little sugar or too much water can make the ice hard and icy.
“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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