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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the lemons finely and cover them with 5 pints of cold water.
Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.
Cook
Boil the mixture for 2 hours.
Add 8 pounds of sugar and boil for an additional 30 minutes.
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 bitter peel and tart juice that give the marmalade its flavor and character.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the mixture thicken and set as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar after the long boil. Sugar added too early can toughen the lemon peel and slow softening; adding it once the peel is tender lets it dissolve and set the marmalade properly.
“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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