Why it works: Vanilla and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,385 recipes. Both carry p-vinylguaiacol, which smells spicy, fruity. The science ↓
Caramels
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare your ingredients by measuring them out.
In a saucepan, combine the ingredients over medium heat.
Stir continuously until the mixture reaches a soft ball stage.
Pour the mixture into a greased pan and let it cool.
Once cooled, cut into squares and enjoy.
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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Vanilla + strawberrytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,385 recipes
Shared aroma: p-vinylguaiacol (spicy, fruity).
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Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,020 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Strawberry + honeytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together354 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Vanilla + honeytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,262 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the strawberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vanilla, honey, chocolate, cream):
- Strawberrythe original
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against vanilla, honey, chocolate, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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