Name: Molasses Posset
Ingredients: ½ pint molasses; 1 ounce butter; juice of 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon vinegar

Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Molasses Posset

Ingredients

½ pint molasses
1 ounce butter
juice of 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions

In a saucepan, combine ½ pint of molasses and 1 ounce of butter.
Heat over low heat and let it simmer slowly for a few minutes.
Stir in the juice of 1 lemon or 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Take 1 tablespoon at a time for relief from a cold.

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.

Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,123 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + lemontop 36% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).