Why it works: Sugar and lemon 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 ↓
Lemonade — Portable, Convenient and Excellent
23 powdersIngredients
Directions
Make the powder
Mix the powdered tartaric or citric acid, powdered sugar, and extract of lemon thoroughly.
Let the mixture dry in the sun.
Rub the dried mixture thoroughly together and divide into 23 powders.
Serve
To make lemonade, dissolve one powder in a glass of water.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon 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
- Tartaric acid or citric acid
- Provides the sour, tart flavor that balances the sweetness of the lemonade.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves quickly, balancing the acid.
- Extract of lemon
- Adds lemon aroma and flavor to the powder.
The step that matters
Drying the mixture in the sun. The mixture must be fully dry before it is rubbed and divided. Moisture left in the powder can make it clump and cake, so the portions will not dissolve evenly in water.
“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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