Why it works: Lemon and orange 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 ↓
Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Juice half a lemon into a large tumbler.
Add 1½ tablespoons of sugar.
Include 2-3 pieces of orange and 1 tablespoon of raspberry or strawberry syrup.
Fill the tumbler half full with chipped ice.
Top off with water and dash with port wine if desired.
Garnish with seasonal fruits.
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 + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + raspberrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,109 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Orange + raspberrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together521 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raspberry + port winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Orange + port winetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together161 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the drink's tang.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity with sweetness.
- Raspberry or strawberry syrup
- Adds fruity sweetness and color.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, orange, port wine):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits about as well
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, orange, port wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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