Why it works: Lemon and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,235 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lemonade in a Minute
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon syrup
Pound the crystallized lemon acid with a few drops of lemon peel extract.
Gradually mix it with 1 pint of clarified syrup.
Start with ¾ pint of syrup and add more if too acidic.
Make the lemonade
Mix 1 tablespoon of the syrup with 1 pint of water to make lemonade.
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 + syruptop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crystallized lemon acid (citric acid)
- Provides the sour, sharp tang that defines lemonade.
- Clarified syrup
- Adds sweetness and body, balancing the acidity of the lemon acid.
- Lemon peel extract
- Adds a concentrated lemon aroma and flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the lemon acid to the syrup. Citric acid is very strong and dissolves slowly as a powder, so pounding it fine and mixing it in gradually keeps the acidity even. Tasting as you add syrup lets you correct a flavor that is too sour before the batch is finished.
“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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