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Pairing

Raisin + Dates

A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 358 recipes, and they share 24 flavor molecules: the top 12% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikemoderate
Cooked together358 recipes
Ranktop 12% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Raisin Dates
105raisin only 24shared 86dates only Raisin · 129 Dates · 110
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do raisin and dates go together?

Yes. 358 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 24 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 12% of every ingredient pair we score.

Why they work

They overlap on 24 flavor molecules: 22% of dates's 110. Among the shared key aromas are isobutyraldehyde (malty, green) and cis-3-hexenal (green, grassy).

What each one brings

raisin

The tartness. Sour notes make up 18% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 12% for dates. It carries 105 molecules dates doesn't have.

dates

The fruit. Fruity notes make up 21% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 7% for raisin. It carries 86 molecules raisin doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Cinnamon: the best fit for both, top 1% of pairs with raisin, top 7% with dates.
  • Fig: top 7% of pairs with raisin, top 2% with dates.
  • Almond: top 2% of pairs with raisin, top 7% with dates.
  • Flour: top 1% of pairs with raisin, top 16% with dates.

Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.

Recipes with raisin and dates

Almost always desserts: 1 of the 1 recipes with a course label are desserts.

Stuffed Dates

See recipes with both →

Can you swap one for the other?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: raisin has 105 molecules dates doesn't, and dates has 86 that raisin doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

All 24 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 105 only in raisin and the 86 only in dates.

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Raisin and dates questions

Do raisin and dates go together?

A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 358 recipes, and they share 24 flavor molecules: the top 12% of all ingredient pairs.

Why do raisin and dates taste good together?

They overlap on 24 flavor molecules: 22% of dates's 110. Among the shared key aromas are isobutyraldehyde (malty, green) and cis-3-hexenal (green, grassy).

What goes with raisin and dates?

Cinnamon is the best third ingredient: top 1% of pairs with raisin and top 7% with dates. Fig and almond also fit both.

What can you make with raisin and dates?

Almost always desserts: 1 of the 1 recipes with a course label are desserts. Common dishes include Stuffed Dates.

Can I use dates instead of raisin?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: raisin has 105 molecules dates doesn't, and dates has 86 that raisin doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

Compare other ingredients

1
2

Two ingredients gives the full side-by-side breakdown; add a third to see a similarity matrix across all of them (up to 6).

Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs

Cite this analysis
Plain text
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Raisin vs Dates. https://compkitchen.com/compare/raisin-vs-dates. Accessed 2026-11-04.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_raisin_vs_dates_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Raisin vs Dates},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/raisin-vs-dates},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.