Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Orange Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a pot, combine 3 pints of water and 4 cups of sugar to make a syrup.
Boil the mixture, then strain it to remove any impurities.
Allow the syrup to cool.
Add juice and freeze
Once cooled, add the juice of 8 oranges and 2 lemons.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the ice and lowers its freezing point, keeping it softer and easier to scoop.
- Orange juice
- Provides the main flavour and liquid that becomes the frozen body of the ice.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the orange flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Cool the syrup before adding the juice. Hot syrup can dull the fresh aroma and flavour of citrus juice. Letting the syrup cool first keeps the orange and lemon taste bright.
“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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