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 ↓
Portable Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mix the citric or tartaric acid with the powdered sugar.
Add the essence of lemon and mix well.
Divide the mixture into 12 parts.
Make the lemonade
To make lemonade, dissolve one part in a tumbler of cold spring water.
For effervescence, add a little carbonate of soda.
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
- Citric or tartaric acid
- Provides the sharp, sour taste that gives lemonade its tartness.
- Powdered loaf sugar
- Sweetens the drink and balances the sourness of the acid.
- Essence of lemon
- Adds a concentrated lemon aroma and flavour.
- Carbonate of soda (in the method)
- Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, creating effervescence.
The step that matters
Dissolve one part in cold spring water. Each part is a measured dose of acid and sugar, so it should be dissolved fully in the water before drinking. Undissolved powder leaves gritty pockets and uneven sourness. Adding the carbonate of soda to the drink produces the fizz, so it should be added just before serving.
“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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