Name: Genuine Mixed Spice
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons ground ginger; 2 tablespoons allspice (or pimento); 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (or cassia); 1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Genuine Mixed Spice

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons allspice (or pimento)
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (or cassia)
1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

Directions

Blend the spices

Combine ground ginger, allspice, and ground cinnamon in a bowl.
Add ground cloves to the mixture if desired.
Mix thoroughly until well combined.

Store

Store in an airtight container away from light.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).