Name: Hoarhound Syrup
Ingredients: 2 ounces dried hoarhound leaves; ½ pint boiling water; as much spirits as water; ¼ pound honey; 1 teaspoon essence of lemon

Why it works: Spirit and honey work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 79 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Hoarhound Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the dried hoarhound leaves in boiling water and spirits for 24 hours.
Strain the mixture.
Add honey and essence of lemon to the strained liquid.
Stir well to combine.

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.

Spirit + honeytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together79 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
Honey + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,707 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Spirit + lemontop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together256 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).