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 ↓
Syrup Op Lemons
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Clarify the sugar in a saucepan.
Pour in the lemon juice and grated peel.
Boil at weak candy height.
Boil together for 4 minutes.
Strain and store
Strain the mixture through fine muslin into a bottle.
Allow to cool, then cork for future use.
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
- Lump sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, and thickens into a syrup as it boils.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sour, bright acidity that defines the syrup's flavour.
- Lemon peel
- Adds aromatic lemon oils that deepen the citrus flavour.
The step that matters
Boil at weak candy height. Boiling to the right concentration controls the syrup's thickness and how well it keeps. Boiling too little leaves it thin and prone to spoiling; boiling too long makes it overly thick and can crystallise as it cools.
“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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