Why it works: Syrup and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,235 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cherry Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Stone the cherries and remove the kernels from about a quarter of the stones, then pound them finely.
Make the syrup base
Pour the boiling syrup over the cherries and kernels, cover tightly, and let it cool.
Once cool, add the Kirsch, lemon juice, and a few drops of carmine.
Freeze
Freeze the mixture using your preferred method.
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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Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, colour and body of the water ice.
- Syrup
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point so it stays scoopable.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the cherry flavour and balances the sweetness.
- Kirsch
- Adds a cherry aroma and a small amount of alcohol that keeps the ice softer.
The step that matters
Cover tightly while the syrup cools. Covering the hot syrup and cherries traps aromatic compounds so they infuse the mixture rather than escaping as steam, keeping the cherry flavour strong.
“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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