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Pairing

Sherry + Mace

A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes, and they share 7 flavor molecules: the top 16% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikelow
Cooked together1,046 recipes
Ranktop 16% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Sherry Mace
213sherry only 7shared 27mace only Sherry · 220 Mace · 34
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do sherry and mace go together?

Yes. 1,046 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 7 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 16% of every ingredient pair we score.

Why they work

They overlap on 7 flavor molecules: 21% of mace's 34. Among the shared key aromas are linalool (floral, citrus) and alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral). Most of what they share is background chemistry many foods carry, so the overlap does little for the smell.

What each one brings

sherry

The fruit. Fruity notes make up 30% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 12% for mace. It carries 213 molecules mace doesn't have.

mace

The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 31% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 4% for sherry. It carries 27 molecules sherry doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Nutmeg: the best fit for both, top 17% of pairs with sherry, top 4% with mace.
  • Clove: top 13% of pairs with sherry, top 6% with mace.
  • Apple: top 8% of pairs with sherry, top 15% with mace.
  • Mushroom: top 5% of pairs with sherry, top 21% with mace.

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

Recipes with sherry and mace

We have no browsable recipe that lists both sherry and mace.

Can you swap one for the other?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: sherry has 213 molecules mace doesn't, and mace has 27 that sherry 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 7 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 213 only in sherry and the 27 only in mace.

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Sherry and mace questions

Do sherry and mace go together?

A good pairing. Cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes, and they share 7 flavor molecules: the top 16% of all ingredient pairs.

Why do sherry and mace taste good together?

They overlap on 7 flavor molecules: 21% of mace's 34. Among the shared key aromas are linalool (floral, citrus) and alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral). Most of what they share is background chemistry many foods carry, so the overlap does little for the smell.

What goes with sherry and mace?

Nutmeg is the best third ingredient: top 17% of pairs with sherry and top 4% with mace. Clove and apple also fit both.

Can I use mace instead of sherry?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: sherry has 213 molecules mace doesn't, and mace has 27 that sherry 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

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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: Sherry vs Mace. https://compkitchen.com/compare/sherry-vs-mace. Accessed 2026-11-04.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_sherry_vs_mace_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Sherry vs Mace},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/sherry-vs-mace},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}

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