Name: Orange Mint Cup
Ingredients: pulp of 2 large oranges; 1 tablespoon powdered sugar; 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint; ½ tablespoon lemon juice

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange Mint Cup

Ingredients

pulp of 2 large oranges
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
½ tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Combine orange pulp, powdered sugar, chopped mint, and lemon juice in a bowl.
Chill the mixture in the refrigerator.
Serve in cocktail glasses, garnished with additional mint.

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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Orange + minttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together549 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and lemon 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

Oranges: Provide the main juicy body and fresh citrus flavor of the cup.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness that dissolves easily into the cold juice.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the orange and balances the sweetness.