Name: Fig Conserve
Ingredients: Figs; Lemon juice; Ginger; Pickling spices

Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fig Conserve

Ingredients

Figs
Lemon juice
Ginger
Pickling spices

Directions

If using dried figs, steam them first.
Combine figs with lemon juice and ginger in a pot.
Add pickling spices to the mixture.
Cook until the figs are tender and the mixture thickens.

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.

Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Fig + gingertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together208 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together763 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).