Name: Onion Sirup
Ingredients: onions; honey; molasses; sugar

Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Onion Sirup

Ingredients

onions
honey
molasses
sugar

Directions

Roast the desired quantity of onions in the fire.
Peel off the outer layer.
Press out the juice.
Sweeten the juice with honey, molasses, or sugar.

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.

Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Honey + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,932 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Honey + molassestop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together224 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Onion + honeytop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,779 recipes

Shared aroma: acetal (cream, earthy).
Onion + molassestop 36% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together524 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).