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Linseed Tea

Linseed tea made by boiling linseed, lemon rind, and water, sweetened with sugar and liquorice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Linseed Tea

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 ↓

Linseed Tea

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Wash the linseed and place it in a saucepan with the water and lemon rind.

  2. Bring to a boil and skim thoroughly.

  3. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sweeten and serve

  1. Add the sugar and liquorice, and stir until dissolved.

  2. Strain the mixture and serve.

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.

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.

  1. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Linseed
Releases gummy mucilage into the water, giving the tea a light, slightly thick body.
Liquorice
Adds a sweet, earthy flavour and aroma.
Sugar candy
Adds sweetness to the tea.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a mellow molasses note.

The step that matters

Skim thoroughly after boiling. Foam and scum rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them keeps the tea clear and stops impurities from giving it a bitter or muddy taste.

“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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