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 ↓
Cherry Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cherry base
Boil the cherries in the water for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Press the mixture through a colander.
Add sugar and lemon juice, then let it cool.
Freeze
Once cold, freeze the mixture, turning the freezer slowly and steadily.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and bulk of the ice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the cherry flavor.
The step that matters
Turning the mixture while it freezes. Stirring as it freezes breaks up forming ice crystals, giving a smoother, finer texture. Letting it freeze still will leave a coarser, icier result.
“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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