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 Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar and water together for 30 minutes.
Let the mixture cool in a basin.
Flavour and bottle
Beat the citric acid to a powder and mix it with the essence of lemon.
Add the citric acid mixture to the cooled syrup and mix well.
Bottle the syrup for use.
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
- Loaf sugar
- Provides sweetness and body, and forms the thick base of the syrup.
- Citric acid
- Adds sharp, sour acidity that balances the sweetness of the syrup.
- Essence of lemon
- Supplies the lemon aroma and flavour.
The step that matters
Cool the syrup before adding the citric acid. Acid combined with sugar in hot syrup can break the sugar down further, changing its flavour and sweetness. Adding the citric acid mixture only after cooling keeps the syrup tasting clean and as intended.
“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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