Why it works: Pumpkin and winter squash share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 40 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Drying Pumpkins and Squash
Ingredients
Directions
Cut pumpkins and squash into strips ½ inch wide, peel, and remove seeds.
Slice the strips into ½ inch thick pieces.
Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes or steam for 5 minutes until they become transparent.
Spread pieces 1-2 layers deep on drying trays and start drying at 135°F (57°C).
Increase temperature to a maximum of 160°F (71°C) once pieces become somewhat plastic.
Stir frequently to ensure even drying.
If drying in the sun, spread in a single layer and turn pieces after a few hours.
Dry until pieces are leathery and show no moisture when pressed.
Store dried pieces in a clean box lined with paper, covered with mosquito netting, and stir daily for 10 days.
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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Pumpkin + winter squashtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together40 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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