Why it works: Apple and pear match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 648 recipes mention both. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
3 9-inch pie tinsIngredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Put the apple wedges, pear wedges and blackberries in a large bowl. Add about half of the white sugar and toss to coat the fruit evenly.
Divide the fruit mixture evenly among the three 9-inch pie tins and spread it into an even layer.
In another bowl, rub the lowfat margarine into the whole wheat flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Stir the remaining white sugar into the crumb mixture.
Scatter the crumble topping evenly over the fruit in each pie tin, leaving the fruit slightly visible in places.
Set the tins on a baking sheet and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling at the edges.
Let the crumbles cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Apple + peartop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together648 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Wheat + flourtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,327 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Wheat + appletop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together205 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Sugar + appletop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together16,440 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + peartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and apple share little aroma chemistry, yet 16,440 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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