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Banana Split

A cheeky childhood dessert of fruit and ice cream served with a dark chocolate and crunchy biscuit topping.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Banana and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,430 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Banana Split

Serves 1
Prep30 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

800Calories
17 gProtein
31 gFat
118 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Biscuit1 medium (45g)166
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Banana1 medium (118g)105
Raspberry1 cup (123g)64
Ice Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Strawberry1 cup (152g)49
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Banana + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Vanilla + cocoatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (banana, vanilla, cream, chocolate, milk, biscuit, sugar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against banana, vanilla, cream, chocolate, milk, biscuit, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.