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 ↓
Strawberry Water
Ingredients
Directions
Make the strawberry base
Crush the strawberries with a wooden spoon.
Mix in the powdered sugar and cold water.
Pour the mixture through a fine sieve and filter until clear.
Finish and chill
Add the lemon juice and 1½ pints of cold water, then mix thoroughly.
Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
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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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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, aroma, and pink color to the drink.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves quickly in cold liquid, unlike coarse granulated sugar.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the strawberry flavor and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Filtering through a fine sieve until clear. Straining out the crushed fruit solids leaves a smooth, clear drink. Rushing this step leaves pulp and cloudiness, which changes both texture and appearance.
“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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