Why it works: Barley and lemon work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 484 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Barley Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Put the barley and 1 pint of cold water in a saucepan over medium heat.
When it boils, pour away the water to remove impurities.
Add 1 pint of fresh cold water and bring it to a boil.
Simmer and serve
Let it simmer until the water looks milky.
Add a thinly peeled piece of lemon rind for flavor.
Strain and sweeten before serving.
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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Barley + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together484 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl barley
- Releases starch into the water, which thickens it slightly and gives it a milky look.
- Lemon rind
- Adds aromatic oils that give the drink a bright, citrusy flavor.
The step that matters
Pouring away the first water. Boiling the barley first and discarding that water removes impurities and loose surface material, so the final drink tastes clean rather than gritty or dusty.
“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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