Name: Papaya Punch
Ingredients: 6 lemons; 1 medium sized papaya, cubed; 5 or 6 bottles of ginger ale

Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Papaya Punch

Ingredients

6 lemons
1 medium sized papaya, cubed
5 or 6 bottles of ginger ale

Directions

Make a strong lemonade by juicing the lemons.
Add the cubed papaya to the lemonade.
Pour in the ginger ale according to the desired amount.

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.

Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Papaya + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together49 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + papayatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together66 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemons: Provide acidity and fresh citrus flavor that balances the sweetness of the ginger ale and papaya.
Papaya: Adds sweet, mellow tropical flavor and a soft, pulpy body to the punch.
Ginger ale: Supplies carbonation and sweetness, giving the punch its fizz and light lift.