Name: Pear Pickles
Ingredients: Pears; Syrup (prepared as for peaches); Spices (similar to peach pickles)

Why it works: Pear and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 114 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pear Pickles

Ingredients

Pears
Syrup (prepared as for peaches)
Spices (similar to peach pickles)

Directions

Prepare syrup as you would for peaches.
Pare and cut the pears in halves or quarters if very large; leave small ones whole.
In a porcelain kettle, bring the syrup to a boil.
Add the pears and cook until a silver fork easily pierces them.
Remove the pears and place them in a jar.
Pour the boiling hot syrup over the pears.
Spice the mixture like peach pickles.
Drain the syrup each day, boiling and skimming it, then pour it boiling hot over the fruit until fully done.
Cook the pears longer at first to reduce the need for frequent boiling, but watch them carefully until finished.
If done perfectly, the pickles will keep for two or more years.

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.

Pear + peachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together114 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together254 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + peachtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together210 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).