Why it works: Lemon and pineapple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar and water for 3 minutes.
Cool the mixture.
Combine and freeze
Add lemon juice and strain through a thin cloth into the shredded pineapple.
When the mixture is partly frozen, fold in the beaten egg white.
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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Lemon + pineappletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + pineappletop 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).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture soft by lowering the freezing point.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the pineapple flavour.
- Shredded pineapple
- Provides the main fruit flavour and moisture.
- Egg white
- Whipped into the partly frozen mixture, it adds air and a lighter texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg white. The mixture must be partly frozen but still soft. If it is too liquid, the egg white deflates and the ice turns dense. If it is too firm, the white will not blend in evenly.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, egg):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, 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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