Why it works: Berry and honey work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 15 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 6Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Peel, core and dice the Bartlett pears into small pieces.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the apple juice, sugar and pure honey, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Add the diced pears to the saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pears are soft.
Stir in the whole berry cranberry sauce, cinnamon and lemon juice, breaking up the sauce with a spoon.
Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the relish is thickened and evenly combined.
Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, then transfer to a jar or container.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving so the flavors blend and the relish thickens further.
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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Berry + honeytop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cranberry + appletop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together169 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Berry + cranberrytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together68 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Cranberry + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together116 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Apple + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,586 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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 (berry, cranberry, sauce, apple, sugar, honey, cinnamon):
- Pearbetter flavor fit
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against berry, cranberry, sauce, apple, sugar, honey, cinnamon. 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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