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 ↓
Lemon Syrup, for Summer Drinks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Grate the thin yellow rind from the lemons and strain the juice over it.
Allow this mixture to stand overnight.
Make and bottle the syrup
Boil the sugar and water together for about 15 minutes to create a thick syrup.
Pour the syrup over the lemon mixture and let it cool.
Strain the mixture, reboil it, and then bottle for later use.
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
- Lemons
- Provide the aromatic rind oils and the sharp acidic juice that flavour the syrup.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, when boiled with water, thickens into a syrup.
The step that matters
Reboiling after straining. Reboiling the strained mixture helps sterilise it before bottling, so it keeps better for later use. Heating it fully also ensures the syrup is properly set for storage.
“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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