Name: Whey Lemonade
Ingredients: 4 cups whey; 2 lemons, sliced or grated rind; 6 tablespoons sugar; nutmeg or cinnamon to taste

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Whey Lemonade

Ingredients

4 cups whey
2 lemons, sliced or grated rind
6 tablespoons sugar
nutmeg or cinnamon to taste

Directions

Combine the whey and sugar in a pitcher.
Add the sliced lemons or grated rind.
Sprinkle in nutmeg or cinnamon to taste.
Stir well and serve chilled.

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Whey + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together58 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Whey + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23,364 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

Whey: Provides the liquid base and a mild tang that carries the other flavors.
Lemons: Add acidity and aroma, giving the drink its lemony bright flavor.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sourness of the lemon and whey.