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Mint Julep

A mint‑infused punch made with claret, citrus juices, and strawberry juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Mint Julep

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup and infusion

  1. Boil 1 quart of water with the sugar for 20 minutes to make a syrup.

  2. Separate the mint leaves and cover them with the boiling water. Let stand for 5 minutes in a warm place.

  3. Strain the mint infusion and add it to the syrup.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix in the orange juice, strawberry juice, and the juice of the lemons.

  2. Chill the mixture and pour it into a punch bowl.

  3. Add the claret and a large piece of ice just before serving.

  4. Garnish with mint leaves and strawberries.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Strawberry + orangetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together726 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Orange + minttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together549 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Strawberry + minttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Dissolves into the water to make a sweet syrup that balances the sour juices.
Mint
Steeped in hot water to release its aroma and flavour into the punch.
Lemons
Juice adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the syrup and juices.
Claret
Wine that adds body, tannin and fruity depth to the punch.
Strawberry juice
Adds fruity flavour, colour and extra sweetness to the punch.

The step that matters

Adding the claret and ice just before serving. Adding wine and ice early lets the ice melt and dilute the punch while the wine's aroma fades. Holding them until serving keeps the flavour bright and the drink at the right strength.

Swap the strawberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, orange, lemon, mint):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Strawberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, orange, lemon, mint. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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