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Cranberry Pear Sorbet

Sweet, tart, fresh and light cranberry pear sorbet.

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Why it works: Pear and cranberry share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 25 recipes mention both. Both carry anethole, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep20 min
Cook24 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: cream

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Combine the pears, cranberries, orange zest, sugar, cranberry juice, water and corn syrup in a large saucepan.

  2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

  3. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pears and cranberries are very soft, about 14 minutes.

  4. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.

  5. Puree until smooth in a blender, then pass through a fine sieve to remove skins. Stir in the Cointreau if using. Chill in the refrigerator until cold, at least 2 hours.

  6. Churn the chilled mixture in an ice cream maker until thick and scoopable, about 20 to 25 minutes.

  7. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze at least 4 hours until firm. Serve cold.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Pear + cranberrytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  2. Orange + cranberrytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together230 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Pear + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together320 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Orange + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together586 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, sugar, cranberry, corn, syrup):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Applebetter flavor fit
  3. Peachbetter flavor fit
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, sugar, cranberry, corn, syrup. 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).