Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Boil the water and cornstarch until the taste of starch is gone.
Add the lemons, leaving the rind in for a while.
Sweeten to taste.
Strain and freeze
Once the mixture is cold, strain it through a sieve.
Freeze the strained liquid.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the boiled water slightly, giving the liquid a little body.
- Lemons
- Provides sour citrus flavour, with aroma from the rind.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and softens the frozen texture by lowering the freezing point.
The step that matters
Boil the water and cornstarch until the taste of starch is gone. Starch must be fully heated for its granules to swell and cook through. If it is undercooked, the drink keeps a raw, floury taste.
“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.
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