Why it works: Kiwifruit and pineapple share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 87 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
2 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk (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.
Peel and slice the kiwifruit, and peel the banana and break it into pieces.
Add the kiwifruit, banana, diced pineapple, orange juice, coconut water and vanilla yogurt to a blender.
Add the agave nectar to the blender if you want it sweeter; it is optional.
Blend on high for 45 to 60 seconds until completely smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides once if needed.
Taste the smoothie, blend briefly again if you added agave, then pour into two glasses and serve right away.
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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Kiwifruit + pineappletop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together87 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Banana + pineappletop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together732 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Banana + vanillatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,430 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together911 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Coconut + vanillatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,294 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kiwifruit, banana, orange, pineapple, vanilla, yogurt, agave):
- Strawberrybetter flavor fit
- Mangobetter flavor fit
- Blueberryabout as good a flavor fit
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against kiwifruit, banana, orange, pineapple, vanilla, yogurt, agave. 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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