Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Sherbet
Ingredients
Directions
Evaporate the juice of citrons in a water bath over low heat until it reaches a honey-like consistency.
In a silver dish, melt fine powdered loaf sugar while stirring with a spatula.
Once the sugar is dry, sprinkle in the mucilage of citron gradually, stirring continuously until a paste forms.
Prepare other acid juices like gooseberries, barberries, and lemons similarly.
For sweeter juices like oranges and pomegranates, heat sugar in a silver dish and gradually add the fresh juice, stirring until a paste forms.
Let the paste dry nearly before shaping it into lozenges.
Store the lozenges in a box lined with paper in a dry place.
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 + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Orange + pomegranatetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together116 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Lemon + pomegranatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together225 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
Swap the pomegranate
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, orange):
- Limefits about as well
- Pomegranatethe original
- Vanillafits less well
- Blueberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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