Name: Pears
Ingredients: small pears; large pears; white sugar; water; clear honey (optional)

Why it works: Pear and honey work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 171 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Pears

Ingredients

Directions

Pare small pears and leave them whole. Cut large pears into quarters and remove the cores.
Scald a few pears at a time in a clean syrup made of white sugar and water to maintain their shape.
When jars are nearly filled, pour in the syrup until completely full and seal with covers.
Serve with a few spoonfuls of clear honey poured over the canned pears for added flavor.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Pear + honeytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together171 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,079 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar + honeytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,932 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).