Name: Honey Syrup for Coughs
Ingredients: 3.5 pounds honey in the comb; ½ pint cider vinegar; 2 ounces tincture of cayenne

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Honey Syrup for Coughs

Ingredients

3.5 pounds honey in the comb
½ pint cider vinegar
2 ounces tincture of cayenne

Directions

Simmer honey and vinegar together until the comb is dissolved.
Let it cool, then remove the wax.
Strain through a muslin cloth.
Add tincture of cayenne.
Take 1 teaspoonful five or six times a day.

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Honey + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,586 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Honey + cidertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together256 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).