See it in action
Why is basil the right herb for tomato?
The basil-tomato pairing isn’t arbitrary tradition. Both ingredients are dominated by a small set of terpene compounds — and one of them, linalool, is enormously potent in basil.
Linalool
the floral, citrus, sweet terpene
OAV in basil
Threshold: ~1.5 ppb · Also in lavender, bergamot, tomato
(Z)-3-Hexenal
the “cut grass” green note
OAV in tomato
Threshold: 0.25 ppb · Aroma: fresh, green, leafy
β-Ionone
carotenoid breakdown product — violet, fruity
OAV in ripe tomato
Threshold: 0.007 ppb · Aroma: violet, woody
Basil contributes linalool. Tomato contributes green hexenals and the violet-floral β-ionone. Together they recreate the headspace of a ripe garden vine — which is the smell humans encode as “summer.”
Unlock the OAV numbers
See exactly how far over the detection threshold each compound is — the part of the chemistry that explains why this pairing works. Plus the full ranked list for any ingredient, compound index, and Compare tool.
OAV (Odor Activity Value) = concentration ÷ detection threshold. Numbers above 1 mean the compound contributes detectably to aroma.