Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Almond Mixture
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the sweet almond, gum arabic, and sugar together until well combined.
Add the water and mix thoroughly.
Strain the mixture before use.
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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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet almond
- Provides the main almond flavour and body to the syrup.
- Gum arabic
- Acts as an emulsifier, helping the almond and water stay blended rather than separating.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the syrup its body.
The step that matters
Beating the almond, gum arabic and sugar together. Ground almonds contain fat and do not blend into water on their own. Beating them with sugar and gum arabic first breaks them down and helps keep the mixture emulsified once the water is added.
“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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