Why it works: Apple and banana match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 435 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Fruit Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and cut the fruit into small pieces.
Chill the fruit thoroughly.
Serve
Arrange the mixed fruit on crisp lettuce leaves.
Sprinkle with nuts and add French dressing just before serving.
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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Apple + bananatop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together435 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Orange + appletop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Orange + bananatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Banana + lettucetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together198 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Orange + lettucetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together373 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oranges
- Provide sweetness, juice and bright acidity to the fruit mix.
- Apples
- Add firm texture and crisp bite that holds up when chilled.
- Bananas
- Contribute soft, creamy texture and natural sweetness.
- Cherries
- Add sweetness and a concentrated fruity flavour.
The step that matters
Add French dressing just before serving. Acid and oil in the dressing draw moisture from cut fruit and soften it, and dressed bananas and apples brown or go limp if left to sit.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, apple, banana):
- Carrotfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against orange, apple, banana. 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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