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 Paste for Dessert
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the lemons
Boil the lemons in two or three waters, seasoning the first with a handful of coarse sea salt.
When tender, drain and cool the lemons.
Beat the cooled lemons to a pulp using a rolling pin.
Pass the pulp through a sieve, squeezing well to extract as much juice as possible.
Make the paste
Weigh the pulp and mix it with an equal quantity of pounded sugar.
Stir continuously until the mixture is dry enough to leave the sides of the saucepan.
Dry and store
Press the mixture into shallow dishes and place them in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) until completely dry.
Cut the dried paste into small squares or strips and store in a tin box with paper between layers.
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
- Fresh lemons
- Provide the pulp and juice that form the entire body of the paste.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, as it dries, helps it set into a firm, chewy texture.
The step that matters
Stir continuously until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan. Sugar can scorch on the hot base of the pan and burn, so constant stirring keeps it moving. Cooking until the mixture pulls away from the sides shows enough water has evaporated for the paste to set firm when dried.
“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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