Name: Melon Ball Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Ingredients: 1 small red onion thinly sliced; 3 cups bite sized pieces of melon; 2 hearts romaine lettuce cut into pieces; 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped basil leaves; 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped mint leaves

Why it works: Basil and mint work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 393 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Melon Ball Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 small red onion thinly sliced
3 cups bite sized pieces of melon
2 hearts romaine lettuce cut into pieces
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped basil leaves
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped mint leaves

Directions

Place onion slices in a small bowl and cover with cold water and soak for 30 minutes.
Drain and pat dry then combine with melon balls, lettuce and herbs then toss gently to combine and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Whisk together all ingredients for vinaigrette and toss gently with melon mixture.
Serve immediately.
Category:Cathy's Recipes

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

52Calories

2 gProtein

0 gFat

12 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Romaine Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Mint	2 tbsp fresh (3g)	2
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Melon	not in our table	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).

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.

Basil + minttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together393 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Melon + minttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together157 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,562 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + basiltop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Lettuce + minttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together569 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (melon, lettuce, basil, mint):

Cucumberfits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against melon, lettuce, basil, mint. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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Melon Ball Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette