Why it works: Lemon and sugar 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 ↓
Lemonade From Fresh Lemons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Thinly cut the peel off the lemons and place it in a jug.
Remove the thick white pith and slice the remaining lemon, discarding the seeds.
Add the lemon slices and sugar to the jug with the peel.
Make the lemonade
Pour 1 pint of freshly boiled water over the mixture and cover until cold.
If not used immediately, let it stand for 12 hours, then carefully pour off the clear liquid.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Supply the main flavour and acidity, with peel oils adding aroma.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the lemon's sharp acidity.
The step that matters
Pouring off the clear liquid. If the liquid is disturbed after standing, sediment and pulp from the lemon will mix back in and cloud the drink. Pouring slowly keeps the lemonade clear.
“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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