Name: Apple Tea
Ingredients: 6 good-sized apples (green fruit preferred); 1 large lemon; ½ pound moist sugar; 3 quarts boiling water

Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Apple Tea

Ingredients

6 good-sized apples (green fruit preferred)
1 large lemon
½ pound moist sugar
3 quarts boiling water

Directions

Prepare

Wipe the apples dry with a cloth and cut them into quarters without peeling.
Slice the lemon thinly with the rind on.
In a pitcher, combine the apples, lemon slices, and sugar.

Steep and serve

Pour the boiling water over the mixture and cover until cold.
Serve when ready to drink.

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.

Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,551 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples: Release natural sweetness and fruity aroma into the water as they steep.
Lemon: Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sugar and apple flavor.
Sugar: Sweetens the tea and helps draw flavor out of the fruit.