Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Lemonade
Ingredients
Directions
Pour boiling water over the thinly peeled lemon rind and cover it tightly.
Once cooled, add lemon juice and sugar to taste.
If desired, add more water and strain through muslin.
For added flavor, boil a little cinnamon and ginger in the water before adding.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Lemon rind
- Supplies the lemon aroma, as its oils steep into the hot water.
- Lemon juice
- Adds the sharp acidity that makes the drink taste like lemonade.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the sourness of the lemon juice.
- Boiling water
- Acts as the solvent that draws flavor from the rind and forms the drink's base.
- Cinnamon and ginger
- Add optional warm, spiced aroma to the liquid.
The step that matters
Cover the rind tightly while it steeps. Covering the hot water keeps the aromatic oils from the lemon rind in the liquid instead of letting them escape with the steam, so the drink tastes more of lemon.
Swap the cinnamon
The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, ginger):
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Cinnamonthe original
- Turmericfits less well
- Corianderfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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