Why it works: Spearmint and spirit work together. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and 3 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Creme De Menthe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the spearmint in a wide-mouthed jar with a tight lid.
Add the rock candy to the jar.
Pour the rectified spirits over the mint and candy.
Steep
Seal the jar and let it stand in a dark place until the candy dissolves.
Shake the jar occasionally until the mixture is syrupy.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Spearmint + spirittop 31% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together3 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Spearmint
- Provides the characteristic mint aroma and flavor as its oils infuse into the spirit.
- Rock candy
- Dissolves into the spirit to add sweetness and create a syrupy body.
- Rectified spirits
- Acts as the solvent that extracts flavor from the mint and dissolves the sugar.
The step that matters
Shake the jar occasionally until the mixture is syrupy. Rock candy dissolves slowly in alcohol, and without regular agitation the sugar can settle at the bottom, leaving the sweetness uneven and the mixture less syrupy.
“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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