Why it works: Sugar and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Ginger Beer Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the fine loaf sugar, ginger, and carbonate of potash in a mortar until well combined.
In two tumbler glasses, fill each nearly half with water.
Stir the compound powder in one glass and the acid powder in the other.
Serve
Mix the two liquids together and drink immediately as effervescence occurs.
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 + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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
What each ingredient does
- Carbonate of potash
- Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, creating the fizz.
- Citric or tartaric acid
- Reacts with the carbonate to release carbon dioxide, giving the drink its sharp, sour taste.
- Fine loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sourness of the acid.
- Ginger
- Provides the spicy aroma and flavour characteristic of ginger beer.
The step that matters
Mix the two liquids together and drink immediately. Carbon dioxide forms as soon as the carbonate and acid meet and escapes from the liquid over time. Waiting lets the effervescence fade, so the drink should be combined and consumed right away.
“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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