Why it works: Lemon and saffron match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 538 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Gum Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Soak 1 pound of gum dragon in a basin with warm water, covering it by 1 inch, for 24 hours.
Prepare a tammy over a dish and squeeze the soaked gum through it.
Repeat the squeezing process until all the gum has passed through.
Knead the gum on a slab, gradually adding the juice of 1 lemon and 1 pound of powdered sugar.
Before all the sugar is added, start incorporating some starch powder until the paste holds an impression.
Roll the paste in a cloth and let it sit in a damp place for 7 to 10 days.
Work the paste with powder to shape it as desired, then place it in a dry area to harden.
If coloring, mix in your chosen color thoroughly, ensuring it is of good quality.
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 + saffrontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together538 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + saffrontop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together650 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Lemon and sugar 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
Swap the saffron
The recipe marks saffron as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Saffronthe original
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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