Honey is a plant derivative with 364 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is 2-methylbutanoic acid ethyl ester. It pairs most strongly with olive, sharing 131 flavor compounds. Honey appears in 9,188 recipes, most commonly in world cuisine.
Compounds ranked by rarity — the higher the score, the more distinctive to this ingredient.
Of the ~226 molecules that drive perceived food aroma (Dunkel et al. 2014), Honey's inventory contains 72. Most of the other 292 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 60 more — showing top 12 by class and threshold.
Generalist = appears in >25% of foods (Maillard / fermentation products). Individualist = appears in <5% of foods (carries signature notes). Threshold values are in clean water — the actual perception threshold in a food matrix can differ substantially.
How Honey's 364 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
224 of 364 are distinctive to honey — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in honey — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.
Ranked by median concentration across published studies. Only 22 of Honey's 364 compounds have a measured concentration in the literature — the rest are confirmed present but not yet quantified. Bars are log-scaled.
Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.
Honey and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.
Compare Honey side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
This study analyzed volatile compounds in twelve Xinjiang Ili honeys using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS), comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-t... Read abstract →
Odour processing exhibits multiple parallels between vertebrate and invertebrate olfactory systems. Insects, in particular, have emerged as relevant models for olfactory studies be... Read abstract →
The cap-pushing response (CPR) is a new free-flying technique used to study learning and memory in honey bees. Bees fly to a target where they push a cap to reveal a hidden food so... Read abstract →
Understanding of the neural bases for complex behaviors in Hymenoptera insect species has been limited by a lack of tools that allow measuring neuronal activity simultaneously in d... Read abstract →
Monofloral honeys are highly valued for their unique flavors and potential health benefits. In this study, the aromatic attributes of rare Leucosceptrum canum Smith honey (LCH) wer... Read abstract →
