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 ↓
Raspberry Water-Ice
Ingredients
Directions
In a basin, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Add the raspberries and beat the mixture briskly for five minutes with a spatula.
Mix in the cold water and stir for one minute.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
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
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the juice to add sweetness and soften the icy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the raspberry flavour and balances the sugar.
- Raspberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and fruit body of the water ice.
- Cold water
- Dilutes the mixture to the right consistency before it is frozen.
The step that matters
Beating the raspberries with the sugar and lemon. Beating breaks down the raspberries and helps the sugar dissolve into the juice, so the mixture stays smooth rather than gritty once frozen.
“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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