Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orangeade, or Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the components
Squeeze the juice from the oranges or lemons.
Pour boiling water over a little of the peel and cover it tightly.
Boil the water and sugar together to create a thin syrup, then skim off any foam.
Combine and strain
Once everything is cold, mix the juice, the infused water, and the syrup.
Add more water to achieve a rich sherbet consistency.
Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.
Alternatively, you can add water and capillaire to the strained juice.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Juice of oranges or lemons
- Provides the main acidity and bright citrus flavour.
- Peel of oranges or lemons
- Infused in hot water to add aromatic citrus oil and fragrance.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and, dissolved into syrup, balances the sourness of the juice.
The step that matters
Cooling before mixing. Combining the juice, infused water and syrup while still hot can dull the fresh citrus flavour and cause the drink to taste cooked. Letting everything cool first keeps the aroma bright and the flavour clean.
“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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