Why it works: Pineapple and lemon 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 Drink
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Peel and remove the eyes from the pineapple.
Grate the pineapple and add the lemon juice.
Make the lemonade
Make a syrup by boiling the sugar and 2 cups of water for 5 minutes.
Add the grated pineapple and syrup to the mixture.
When cold, add 1 quart of water.
Chill and serve
Chill thoroughly before serving.
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 + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Pineapple
- Provides the main fruit flavor and juice, with natural sweetness and tartness.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and, dissolved into syrup, adds body to the liquid.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar. 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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