Why it works: Grape and banana work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 496 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Fruit Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Seed and cut one-half pound of white grapes in half.
Cut one grapefruit in half and scoop out the pulp.
Quarter one banana and cut into small pieces.
Add 12 maraschino cherries.
Chill thoroughly.
Make the dressing
Whip a gill of sweet cream until very light.
Gradually add 2 tablespoons of sugar and four tablespoons of tarragon vinegar.
Assemble and serve
Arrange fruit in a bowl with the bleached leaves of head lettuce.
Pour dressing over salad when ready to serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Banana | 1 medium (118g) | 105 |
| Cherry | 1 cup (138g) | 87 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Fruit | 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.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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.
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Grape + bananatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together496 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Grape + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
-
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Banana + vinegartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together273 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet cream
- Whipped to a light foam, it forms the body of the dressing and coats the fruit.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the whipped cream, adding sweetness that balances the tart vinegar and fruit.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity and aroma that cut through the richness of the cream.
- White grapes
- Provide sweet juice and bulk as the main fruit in the salad.
The step that matters
Whip the cream until very light, then add the sugar and vinegar gradually. Cream whips best when cold and stops just before it becomes stiff. Adding acid and sugar slowly, while whipping, keeps the dressing smooth and prevents it from curdling or deflating.
Swap the grape
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, banana, vinegar):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Grapethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, banana, vinegar. 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.
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