Tomato + Garden cress
Promising but untested: they share 219 flavor molecules (moderate aroma overlap), yet only 1 recipe uses both. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs.
Do tomato and garden cress go together?
Possibly. One recipe in our collection uses both, and they share 219 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 34% of every ingredient pair we score.
Why they work
Almost everything garden cress carries, tomato has too: 219 of garden cress's 232 flavor molecules also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are coumarin (sweet, hay) and 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
What each one brings
tomato
The fruit. Fruity notes make up 15% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 9% for garden cress. It carries 291 molecules garden cress doesn't have.
garden cress
The tartness. Sour notes make up 20% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 14% for tomato. It carries 13 molecules tomato doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Chervil: the best fit for both, top 12% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with garden cress.
- Capers: top 8% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with garden cress.
- Lettuce: top 6% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with garden cress.
- Tarragon: top 6% of pairs with tomato, top 1% with garden cress.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with tomato and garden cress
We have no browsable recipe that lists both tomato and garden cress. With this much shared aroma, it is the kind of novel pairing worth testing.
Can you swap one for the other?
Only partly. Almost all of garden cress's flavor molecules (219 of 232) are also found in tomato, but tomato has 291 that garden cress lacks. Garden cress gives you part of tomato's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 219 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 291 only in tomato and the 13 only in garden cress.
Tomato and garden cress questions
Do tomato and garden cress go together?
Promising but untested: they share 219 flavor molecules (moderate aroma overlap), yet only 1 recipe uses both. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs.
Why do tomato and garden cress taste good together?
Almost everything garden cress carries, tomato has too: 219 of garden cress's 232 flavor molecules also occur in tomato. Among the shared key aromas are coumarin (sweet, hay) and 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
What goes with tomato and garden cress?
Chervil is the best third ingredient: top 12% of pairs with tomato and top 1% with garden cress. Capers and lettuce also fit both.
Can I use garden cress instead of tomato?
Only partly. Almost all of garden cress's flavor molecules (219 of 232) are also found in tomato, but tomato has 291 that garden cress lacks. Garden cress gives you part of tomato's character without most of its fruit. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
Compare other ingredients
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
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Tomato vs Garden Cress. https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-garden-cress. Accessed 2026-11-05.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_tomato_vs_garden_cress_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Tomato vs Garden Cress},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/tomato-vs-garden-cress},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-05}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.