Name: Macedoine Fruit Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup orange sections, freed from white skin; 1 cup banana, cut into slices; 1 cup Malaga grapes, cut in halves and seeds removed; ½ cup candied cherries, cut in halves; ¼ cup blanched almonds; ½ cup powdered sugar; Juice of 1 lemon

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Macedoine Fruit Salad

Ingredients

1 cup orange sections, freed from white skin
1 cup banana, cut into slices
1 cup Malaga grapes, cut in halves and seeds removed
½ cup candied cherries, cut in halves
¼ cup blanched almonds
½ cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the orange sections, banana slices, halved grapes, candied cherries, blanched almonds, and powdered sugar.
Drizzle the lemon juice over the mixture and mix lightly.
Serve in individual lettuce cups or in orange baskets.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Banana + grapetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together496 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Orange + grapetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,771 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Orange + bananatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,118 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Orange sections: Provide juicy body and bright citrus flavor that balances the sweetness.
Banana: Adds soft texture and mild sweetness to the fruit mixture.
Malaga grapes: Contribute juiciness and a sweet, firm bite to the salad.
Candied cherries: Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.
Blanched almonds: Add crunch that contrasts with the soft fruit.
Powdered sugar: Dissolves quickly in the fruit juices, adding sweetness throughout the salad.

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, grape, almond, sugar, lemon):

Figfits better
Vanillafits better
Cranberryfits better
Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, grape, almond, sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.