Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemonade for Invalids
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon
Thinly pare the rind of the lemon.
Cut the lemon into 2 or 3 thick slices, removing as much of the white pith and all the seeds as possible.
Steep and serve
Place the lemon slices, peel, and sugar into a jug.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture, cover it closely, and let it steep for 2 hours.
Strain or pour off the lemonade from the sediment 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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Supplies the sour acidity and the aromatic oils from the peel that flavour the drink.
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the lemon's sharp acidity.
The step that matters
Removing the white pith and seeds. White pith is bitter and seeds can add bitterness and off-flavours, so removing as much as possible keeps the lemonade clean-tasting while the peel and juice still give aroma and sourness.
“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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