Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Linseed Tea for Colds
Ingredients
Directions
Simmer the linseed and liquorice in the water for 2 to 3 hours.
Strain the mixture.
Add the lemon juice or vinegar, brown sugar, and paregoric.
If desired, boil the ginger with the linseed.
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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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
Swap the ginger
The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Corianderfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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