Why it works: Kale and chia share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 7 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
If using fresh beets, peel them and chop into small pieces. Frozen beets can go in as they are.
Peel and roughly chop the ginger slice. Chop the celery stalks and core and chop the apple.
Add the beets, kale if using, spinach, celery, apple, ginger and chia seeds to a blender.
Pour in the coconut water, or regular water if you prefer, then add the cinnamon if using.
Blend on high for about 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add a splash more water to loosen if it is too thick.
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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Kale + chiatop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,586 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Chia + coconuttop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together66 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Kale + spinachtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together70 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the kale
The recipe marks kale as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, spinach, celery, apple, cinnamon, chia, coconut):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Kalethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, spinach, celery, apple, cinnamon, chia, coconut. 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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