Why it works: Irish moss and orange work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and 6 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the moss
Macerate the Irish moss in cold water for 15 minutes.
Drain and boil the moss in 2 quarts of water for 15 minutes.
Flavour and serve
Just before removing from heat, add grated peel and juice of orange or lemon to taste.
Strain and drink as a tea.
Jelly variation
To make a jelly, use 3 ounces of moss.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Irish moss + orangetop 21% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together6 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Irish moss
- Supplies carrageenan, a seaweed gum that thickens the liquid and can set into a jelly.
- Orange or lemon peel
- Adds aromatic citrus oils that give the tea its fragrance and flavour.
- Orange or lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright citrus flavour to balance the tea.
The step that matters
Adding the citrus just before removing from heat. Citrus aroma compounds are volatile and fade with prolonged boiling. Adding the peel and juice at the end keeps the tea fragrant and bright, rather than dull and cooked.
“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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