Why it works: Apple and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,565 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓
Apples with Olive Oil
Ingredients
Directions
Peel the apple and cut it into eighths or sixteenths.
Place the apple pieces in a sauce dish.
Pour a few spoonfuls of olive oil over the apple.
Serve with nuts for a delicious breakfast.
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.
-
Apple + olivetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,565 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
-
Olive + nutstop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together186 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Apple + nutstop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together237 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, olive):
- Chestnutfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Flaxseedfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Rice Gruel28 recipes
Peptoned Milk Gruel9 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.