Name: Tropical Mango Salsa
Ingredients: 5 or 6 tomatoes, chopped (save liquid and pour into salsa bowl); 2 ears sweet white corn, kernels cut from cob and uncooked; 1 medium onion, diced - (Vidalia is the best); 2 limes, juice only; chopped garlic cloves to taste; 4 tbsp.cilantro, chopped finely; 1 fresh mango, peeled and diced; salt and pepper to taste; chopped jalapeno pepper to taste; 1 can of Black bean soup, drained but not rinsed

Why it works: Lime and mango match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 506 recipes mention both. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

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.

Lime + mangotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together506 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,030 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + jalapenotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together1,035 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Tomato + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together14,075 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Adds juiciness and moisture, and their liquid becomes part of the salsa.
Sweet white corn: Adds sweetness and a crisp, fresh bite because the kernels are uncooked.
Onion: Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the sweetness of the fruit.
Lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavours and balances the sweetness.
Mango: Adds sweetness and a soft, juicy texture.
Cilantro: Adds a fresh, herbal aroma.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, corn, lime, garlic, mango, pepper, jalapeno):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Potatobetter flavor fit
Carrotbetter flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, corn, lime, garlic, mango, pepper, jalapeno. 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).

“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.