Why it works: Pineapple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,841 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Grate the pineapple and remove the eyes.
Weigh the grated pineapple and mix it with the pulverized sugar.
Add almost 1 quart of water to the mixture.
Freeze and finish
When the mixture begins to freeze, stir in the beaten egg whites.
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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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pineapple + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,075 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grated pineapple
- Supplies the main fruit flavor and most of the liquid base for the ice.
- Pulverized sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer and less icy.
- Egg whites
- Trap air when beaten, giving the frozen ice a lighter, smoother texture.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten egg whites when the mixture begins to freeze. At this partly frozen stage the mixture is slushy enough to take the whites evenly. If it is fully frozen, the beaten whites cannot be blended in, and the ice loses its light, smooth texture.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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