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 ↓
Berry Punch
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar in water and boil for a moment.
Set aside to cool.
Assemble and serve
Once cool, add the berry juice, lemon juice, Apollinaris, shaved ice, maraschino, and additional berries.
Stir well and serve chilled.
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
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolves into the water to form a syrup that sweetens the punch.
- Berry juice
- Provides the main fruit flavor and color of the punch.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the berry flavor.
- Apollinaris or sparkling water
- Adds carbonation that lightens the texture and gives the punch a lively fizz.
- Shaved ice
- Chills the punch and dilutes it gradually as it melts.
The step that matters
Cool the syrup before adding the other ingredients. Adding the carbonated water, ice, or juice to hot syrup would cause rapid melting and fizz loss, and heat can dull the fresh berry flavor. Letting the syrup cool first keeps the punch bright and well carbonated.
“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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