Why it works: Apple and dates work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 119 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Sweet Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Stir Indian meal into boiling water until it reaches the consistency of thin mush.
Bake for about 3 hours.
If the apples are not very sweet, add a few chopped dates for flavor along with cranberries and raisins.
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.
-
Apple + datestop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together119 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Dates + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together358 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,920 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the dates
The recipe marks dates as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, raisin):
- Figfits better
- Pearfits better
- Quincefits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, raisin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.