Why it works: Tomato and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,887 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green Tomato Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the green tomatoes and soak them in strong salt water for 24 hours.
Rinse the tomatoes again and wipe them dry.
In a pot, combine 1 pound of sugar with enough water to make a rich syrup.
Add the tomatoes to the syrup and season with racoon ginger.
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.
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Tomato + gingertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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