Why it works: Potato and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 424 recipes mention both. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Drain the canned sweet potatoes well and mash them in a bowl until mostly smooth.
Stir the light brown sugar, sugar, honey, cinnamon and grated zest from the whole lime into the mashed sweet potatoes until evenly combined.
Set both frozen pie shells on a baking sheet. Divide the filling evenly between them and spread it smooth.
Bake for 15 minutes until the crust edges are golden and the filling is set around the edges.
Remove from the oven, scatter the mini marshmallows over the tops of both pies, then bake 5 minutes more until the marshmallows are puffed and lightly golden.
Cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
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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Potato + limetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together424 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Yam + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Yam + potatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together117 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Honey + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Cinnamon + limetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together470 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the yam
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, syrup, sugar, honey, cinnamon, lime):
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Yamthe original
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, syrup, sugar, honey, cinnamon, lime. 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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