Name: Apple Water
Ingredients: 1 to 2 apples (red ones if possible); 1 pint water; sugar to sweeten; lemon juice to taste

Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Apple Water

Ingredients

1 to 2 apples (red ones if possible)
1 pint water
sugar to sweeten
lemon juice to taste

Directions

Wipe the apples and cut them into thin slices.
Place the slices in a jug and pour boiling water over them.
Add sugar to taste and let it stand until cold.
Strain the mixture and add lemon juice to taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,551 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples: Provide the main fruit flavour and aroma as they steep in the hot water.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the fruit's tartness.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour.