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
Steep the lemon
Pour boiling water over the thinly pared lemon rind and cover it tightly.
Let it cool, then add lemon juice and sugar to taste.
Finish
If desired, strain through muslin.
For extra flavor, boil a little cinnamon and ginger in the water before adding the lemon.
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.
-
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
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 gives aroma and oils to the water, while juice adds the sharp citrus acidity.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the lemon's acidity.
- Boiling water
- Extracts flavor and aromatic oils from the lemon rind and dissolves the sugar.
The step that matters
Cover the rind tightly while it steeps. Lemon rind holds volatile aromatic oils that escape with steam. Covering the pot keeps them in the water, so the drink tastes of lemon rather than flat.
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.
More lemonade recipes
You might also like
Lemon Whey33 recipes
Lemon Wine31 recipes
Ginger Pop22 recipes
Ginger Wine12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.