Name: Compound Tincture of Rhubarb
Ingredients: 2 ounces rhubarb, sliced; ½ ounce licorice root, bruised; 2 teaspoons ginger, powdered; 2 teaspoons saffron; 1 pint distilled water; 12 ounces proof spirits of wine

Why it works: Rhubarb and saffron share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Compound Tincture of Rhubarb

Ingredients

Directions

Combine rhubarb, licorice root, ginger, saffron, and distilled water in a container.
Let the mixture sit for 14 days to digest.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
For use, take ½ ounce as an aperient or 1 ounce for violent diarrhea.

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.

Rhubarb + saffrontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Rhubarb + gingertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together241 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ginger + saffrontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together418 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Saffron + winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together282 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the licorice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rhubarb, ginger, saffron, spirit, wine):

Cinnamonfits better
Clovefits better
Peppermintfits better
Licoricethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rhubarb, ginger, saffron, spirit, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.