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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the lemon and reserve a thin slice for serving.
Strain the juice from the lemon into a glass.
Make and serve
Add sugar and boiling water to the lemon juice and stir until dissolved.
Chill the mixture and use the reserved lemon slice as a garnish.
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.
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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
- Provides the tart acidity and bright citrus aroma that define the drink.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sourness of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Dissolving the sugar in the boiling water. Sugar dissolves much more readily in hot liquid. Stirring until no crystals remain keeps the lemonade smooth rather than gritty, and it must be fully dissolved before chilling.
“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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