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Salad

Nut and Fruit Salad

A salad of grapes, apples, pineapple, nuts, and mayonnaise dressing topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and apple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,659 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Nut and Fruit Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit and nuts

  1. Cut grapes in half lengthwise and remove seeds.

  2. Cut apples into cubes and moisten with lemon juice to preserve color.

  3. Slice hickory nuts, Brazil nuts, or English walnuts, removing the brown skin from Brazil nuts.

  4. Cut pineapple into ½ inch cubes.

  5. Sprinkle the mixture with coarse sea salt.

Dress and serve

  1. Just before serving, combine with mayonnaise dressing and add whipped cream, being careful not to thin the dressing too much.

  2. For serving, use large, perfect apples as bowls: cut off the top, scoop out the inside, and use the scooped apple for another dish.

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.

  1. Grape + appletop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Grape + pineappletop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together709 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  3. Apple + pineappletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together530 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grapes
Provide juicy sweetness and a crisp texture that contrasts with the soft dressing.
Apple
Adds crisp texture and tartness, and can double as a serving bowl.
Nuts
Add crunch and a rich, buttery flavor that balances the sweet fruit.
Pineapple
Adds juicy sweetness and acidity to brighten the salad.
Mayonnaise dressing
Coats the fruit and nuts, adding richness and creaminess.
Whipped cream
Lightens the dressing, adding airy softness and extra richness.

The step that matters

Adding the whipped cream to the dressing. Folding in whipped cream gently keeps it airy. Overmixing or adding it too early can thin the mayonnaise dressing and make the salad watery and loose, so combine it just before serving.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (grape, apple, pineapple, lemon, cream):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against grape, apple, pineapple, lemon, 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.

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