Name: Orange and Olive Salad with Cumin
Ingredients: 8 navel oranges, peeled and white pith removed, sliced; 3/4 cup good quality black olives, cut in half and pitted; 1 red onion, sliced very thinly; juice of one medium-sized lemon; 1/2 - 1 tsp. ground cumin (to taste); salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 Tb. olive oil

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange and Olive Salad with Cumin

Ingredients

8 navel oranges, peeled and white pith removed, sliced
3/4 cup good quality black olives, cut in half and pitted
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
juice of one medium-sized lemon
1/2 - 1 tsp. ground cumin (to taste)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tb. olive oil

Directions

Prepare

Toss together oranges, olives and onion.

Make the dressing

Mix together lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper, then whisk in oil.

Serve

Toss with the salad and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

255Calories

4 gProtein

15 gFat

31 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Olive + cumintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,853 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + cumintop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,498 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cumin + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,382 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Navel oranges: Provide the sweet, juicy body of the salad and its bright citrus flavour.
Black olives: Add salty, savoury richness that balances the sweetness of the oranges.
Red onion: Adds sharp, pungent bite that contrasts with the sweet fruit.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts through the sweetness.
Ground cumin: Contributes warm, earthy aroma to the dressing.
Olive oil: Adds fat that carries the spice flavours and gives the dressing body.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, olive, lemon, cumin, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, olive, lemon, cumin, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.