Name: Dandelion Salad
Ingredients: Dandelion greens; Olive oil; Vinegar; Salt; Pepper

Why it works: Dandelion and olive share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 54 recipes. Both carry 2-heptenal, which smells green. The science ↓

Dandelion Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Wash the dandelion greens thoroughly.
Tear the greens into bite-sized pieces.
In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Drizzle the dressing over the greens and toss gently to combine.

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.

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.

Dandelion + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together54 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Dandelion + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together77 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).