Name: Papa's Purple Coleslaw Plus
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 head red cabbage, shredded; 1 ripe tomato, chopped; 10 baby carrots, chopped; 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained; 2/3 cup chopped pecans; 1/2 Red Delicious apple, cored and cut into thin chips; 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped; 1/2 cup dried cherries, or to taste; 1 green onion, chopped; 1 teaspoon chopped cilantro, or to taste; 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley, or to taste; 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder, or to taste; salt and ground black pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1/2 cup honey

Why it works: Pineapple and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 530 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

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.

Pineapple + appletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together530 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, tomato, carrot, pineapple, apple, pepper, onion):

Beansfits better
Chestnutfits better
Chickpeafits better
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, carrot, pineapple, apple, pepper, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pecans	1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)	196
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Cherry	1 cup (138g)	87
Pineapple	1 cup chunks (165g)	82
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Papa's Purple Coleslaw Plus