Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 Syrtjp
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a pot.
Heat the mixture for 15 minutes.
Add citric acid and stir until it dissolves.
Strain and flavour
Strain the mixture through muslin into a basin.
Add lemon essence and mix well.
Bottle
Bottle the syrup when it is cold and cork tightly.
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.
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and body to the syrup.
- Citric acid
- Adds sharp, tart acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Lemon essence
- Supplies the lemon aroma and flavour.
The step that matters
Stir the citric acid until fully dissolved. Undissolved citric acid crystals stay gritty and can make the syrup taste uneven. Dissolving it completely in the warm mixture gives an even tartness throughout before straining.
“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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