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Ex-Girlfriend's Mom's Salsa Fresca

"My ex's mom had the best hand-chopped salsa fresca I have ever tasted back in college. Over the years, I have tweaked it to something my friends and family rave about. The trick for this salsa is marinating the onions and jalapenos in lime juice for about 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes and cilantro. There are two tricks to this recipe: 1. Hand-chop everything. It takes a while, but it is worth it. 2. The marinating is what makes this salsa special. Hope you enjoy."

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Ex-Girlfriend's Mom's Salsa Fresca

Why it works: Jalapeno and lime are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ex-Girlfriend's Mom's Salsa Fresca

6 servings
Prep20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

116Calories
4 gProtein
1 gFat
28 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Jalapeno + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Plum + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,480 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Lime + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,878 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Lime + plumtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together193 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jalapeno, lime, plum, tomato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jalapeno, lime, plum, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.