Name: Guavas Served in Skin
Ingredients: firm, large guavas; powdered sugar; sugar; cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Guavas Served in Skin

Ingredients

firm, large guavas
powdered sugar
sugar
cream

Directions

Cut off the stem ends of the guavas.
Loosen the pulp around the center with a spoon.
Mix the pulp with powdered sugar.
Serve on guava leaves arranged on plates.
Strain the pulp through a fine mesh to extract seeds.
Mix the strained pulp with a little sugar or sugar and cream.
Place the mixture back into the guava skin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Guava + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together115 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Guava + creamtop 35% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).