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 ↓
Pop-corn Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan.
Boil for five minutes and skim off any foam.
Coat and shape
Pop the corn as directed and transfer it to a bowl.
Pour the syrup in a fine stream over the popcorn while stirring continuously.
Lightly grease your hands and take about 2 tablespoons of the corn, pressing it gently into a ball.
Place the balls on greased paper to dry.
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
- Popcorn
- Forms the bulk of each ball and gives it a light, crisp texture.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as the syrup cools, hardens to bind the popcorn together.
The step that matters
Pour the syrup in a fine stream while stirring. Stirring spreads the hot syrup thinly so it coats each piece of popcorn evenly. Pouring it in one spot leaves sticky clumps and bare kernels, and the balls will not hold together well.
“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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