Name: Flaxseed Tea
Ingredients: 1 ounce whole flaxseed (1 heaping tablespoon); 1 ounce white sugar; 4 tablespoons lemon juice; ½ ounce licorice root (two small sticks); 2 pints boiling water

Why it works: Flaxseed and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 151 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Flaxseed Tea

Ingredients

1 ounce whole flaxseed (1 heaping tablespoon)
1 ounce white sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
½ ounce licorice root (two small sticks)
2 pints boiling water

Directions

Combine flaxseed, sugar, lemon juice, and licorice root in a heatproof container.
Pour 2 pints of boiling water over the mixture.
Let it stand in a warm place for 4 hours.
Strain the mixture to remove solids 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.

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.

Flaxseed + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together151 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flaxseed + licoricetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together23 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Sugar + licoricetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together76 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flaxseed + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together233 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and lemon 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

Whole flaxseed: Releases mucilage into the water, giving the tea its body and slightly thick, soothing texture.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness of the sugar.
White sugar: Adds sweetness that softens the earthy, bitter notes of the flaxseed and licorice.
Licorice root: Contributes a sweet, aromatic flavour to the infusion.