Name: Fruit Creams
Ingredients: 1 cup raisins, seeded; 1 cup currants; 1 cup figs, chopped fine; 1 cup citron, chopped fine; 2 cups French cream; ½ cup sugar

Why it works: Raisin and fig work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fruit Creams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

Combine the raisins, currants, figs, and citron in a bowl.
Mix the fruit into the French cream before adding the sugar, and stir until well combined.

Set and cut

Spread the mixture into a cake pan to about 1 inch thick.
Cut into oblong pieces or 1‑inch squares.

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.

Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together737 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Currant + figtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together276 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).