Why it works: Corn and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 485 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
If using fresh fruit, take the pure juice.
If using preserved or jellied fruit, reduce it with water to a pleasant flavor.
Sweeten the juice if needed.
Make the pudding
In a pot, bring 1 pint of juice to a boil.
Mix corn-starch smoothly in a little cold water.
Add the mixture to the boiling juice.
Boil for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour into a dish to cool.
Finish and serve
Once cooled, cover with whipped cream.
Garnish with blanched almond slices if desired.
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.
-
Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Corn + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the boiling juice into a soft, sliceable pudding as it gelatinizes.
- Pure fruit juice
- Provides the main flavor and liquid that the starch thickens.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and a mild, cooling contrast to the tart fruit pudding.
The step that matters
Stirring while the starch boils. Cornstarch clumps if it is not dispersed in cold liquid first and can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Constant stirring during the 1-2 minute boil keeps the mixture smooth and lets the starch fully thicken.
Swap the almond
The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, cream):
- Beansfits about as well
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Peanutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, cream. 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.
More fruit pudding recipes
You might also like
Corn Cake90 recipes
Corn Starch Cake89 recipes
Almond Sponge Cake26 recipes
Almond Custard22 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.