Why it works: Pineapple and banana match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 732 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
8 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
In a large bowl, stir together the sour cream, white sugar and lemon juice until smooth and the sugar has mostly dissolved, about 2 minutes.
Gently fold the thawed whipped topping into the sour cream mixture until no white streaks remain.
Fold in the drained crushed pineapple, sliced maraschino cherries and chopped pecans until evenly distributed.
Fold in the sliced bananas last so they stay intact, then spoon the mixture into a serving dish.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until firm and well chilled before serving.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pineapple + bananatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together732 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,437 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Banana + pecanstop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together211 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Pineapple + pecanstop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together294 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Lemon + pineappletop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,962 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, pineapple, banana, pecans):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Strawberrybetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, pineapple, banana, pecans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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