Name: Cranberry Orange Salad
Ingredients: 1 med orange; 1/2 cup raw cranberries; sugar substitute equal to 1; tablespoon sugar; 1 pack sugar free gelatin, red; 3/4 cup boiling water; 1/2 cup cold water; ice cubes

Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 19,210 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

Quarter the orange and remove seeds, combine orange and cranberries in a food processor and chop finely. Add sugar substitute and set aside.

Make the gelatin

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.
Combine cold water and enough ice cubes to make 1 cup ice water.
Add water to gelatin and stir.
Set aside until ice cubes melt.
Add fruit mixture.

Set and chill

Pour into a 2-cup mold or an 8-inch square pan which has been sprayed with Pam.
Chill until firm.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Orange + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together19,210 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar substitute + gelatintop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together11 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + gelatintop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar substitute + sugartop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together78 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Orange + gelatintop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together463 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Orange and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 19,210 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Orange: Adds bright citrus flavour and aroma, and some juice to the salad.
Raw cranberries: Add tart acidity and a fresh, bright flavour that balances the sweetness.
Sugar free gelatin: Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable salad as it cools.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.