Why it works: Lemon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,150 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Camomile Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Steep
Combine camomile flowers, lemon rind, and cloves in a bowl.
Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the mixture.
Cover the bowl and let it steep overnight.
Strain and serve
In the morning, strain the liquid.
Take ⅓ cup of the tea before breakfast.
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.
-
Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Camomile flowers
- Provide the main floral aroma and flavour as hot water draws out their compounds.
- Lemon rind
- Adds a bright citrus aroma from the oils in the peel.
- Cloves
- Add a warm, spicy aroma that rounds out the floral flavour.
- Boiling water
- Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour and aroma from the plant material.
The step that matters
Cover the bowl while steeping. Covering the bowl keeps the volatile aromatic compounds from escaping with the steam, so they stay in the liquid and the tea tastes fuller.
“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
The 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.
Lemon Whey33 recipes
Lemon Wine31 recipes
Lemon Squash10 recipes
Lemon Essence8 recipes