Why it works: Sugar and arrowroot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,073 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Cold Fruit Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Stew the fruit until tender.
Press the fruit through a sieve.
Add an equal quantity of water and enough sugar to balance the acidity.
Thicken and serve
Return to the heat and add 1 teaspoon of arrowroot for each pint.
Cook until clear, then set aside to cool.
Serve very cold in bouillon cups or small glass bowls.
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.
-
Sugar + arrowroottop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,073 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Summer fruits
- Provide the main flavour, colour and body of the soup once pressed.
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the liquid into a clear, glossy soup as it heats.
- Sugar
- Balances the fruit's acidity and adds sweetness.
The step that matters
Cook the arrowroot until clear. Arrowroot must be heated until the liquid turns clear and thickened; underheating leaves it cloudy and thin, while prolonged boiling can break down its thickening power.
“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.
You might also like
Arrowroot Pudding46 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.