Why it works: Garlic and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,208 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Syrup of Garlic
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate the sliced garlic in a closed container with boiling water for 12 hours.
Strain off the liquid.
Add the lump sugar to the liquid and boil until it reaches a syrup consistency.
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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Garlic + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,208 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Garlic
- Supplies the flavour that is steeped into the water to make the syrup.
- Lump sugar
- Thickens the liquid into a syrup and provides sweetness.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar to syrup consistency. Sugar concentrates as water evaporates, so boiling too briefly leaves a thin liquid and boiling too long can overly thicken or caramelise it. Stopping at the right point gives a pourable syrup that stays stable once cooled.
“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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