Why it works: Honey and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,262 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Chocolate
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the husks from roasted cacao seeds.
Grind the seeds in a mill on a heated iron plate until they form a brown pasty mass.
Sweeten the paste with honey.
Add sago flour or potato starch for thickening.
Flavor with vanilla or cinnamon if desired.
Pour the mixture into molds to set.
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.
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Honey + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,262 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Honey + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the vanilla
The recipe marks vanilla as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (honey, flour):
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillathe original
- Pearfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against honey, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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