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 Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar and water together.
Dissolve the gelatine in a little water and pour it into the sugar-water mixture.
Finish and freeze
Juice the lemons and add the juice to the mixture.
Stir well and freeze until firm.
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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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, dissolved in water, forms the syrup base of the ice.
- Lemons
- Supply the juice that gives the ice its sharp, acidic flavour.
- Gelatine
- Adds body and helps the mixture set firm when frozen.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatine fully before adding it. Gelatine must be completely dissolved in warm liquid before it is mixed in; undissolved granules can leave gritty or rubbery spots and uneven setting in the frozen ice.
“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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