Why it works: Lemon and banana are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,134 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Banana Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make a lemon or pineapple jelly according to package instructions.
Pour the jelly over sliced bananas.
Serve with a border of whipped cream and additional sliced bananas to prevent discoloration.
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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Lemon + bananatop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Banana + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,180 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Lemon + creamtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,640 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,640 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
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (banana, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against banana, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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