Name: Green Mint Punch
Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar; juice of 6 lemons; 3 lemons, peeled and sliced thin; 1 dozen sprays of mint; crushed ice; 3 bottles imported ginger ale; green vegetable coloring (to desired shade)

Why it works: Lemon and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Green Mint Punch

Ingredients

Directions

In a punch bowl, combine the sugar and lemon juice.
Add the sliced lemons, mint, and crushed ice once the sugar has dissolved.
Stir in the ginger ale and add green vegetable coloring until the desired shade is achieved.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mint + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together14,054 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Granulated sugar: Dissolves into the lemon juice to sweeten the punch and balance its acidity.
Lemon juice: Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sugar and gives the punch its bright flavor.
Ginger ale: Adds carbonation and a mild ginger sweetness to the punch base.
Mint: Contributes a fresh, aromatic herbal flavor to the punch.