Name: Fruit Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup chopped apples; ⅔ cup chopped celery (white part); ½ cup finely chopped English walnuts; 1 bunch grapes, cut up; Lettuce leaves for garnish; Mayonnaise dressing

Why it works: Apple and grape 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 ↓

Fruit Salad

Ingredients

1 cup chopped apples
⅔ cup chopped celery (white part)
½ cup finely chopped English walnuts
1 bunch grapes, cut up
Lettuce leaves for garnish
Mayonnaise dressing

Directions

Prepare

Combine the chopped apples, chopped celery, finely chopped walnuts, and cut-up grapes in a bowl.
Make a mayonnaise dressing and mix it into the fruit mixture.

Serve

Garnish with lettuce leaves before serving.

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.

Apple + grapetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,659 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Walnut + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together491 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Celery + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Walnut + grapetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,427 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Provide crisp texture and tart-sweet flavor that balances the richness of the dressing.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mildly savory note to the salad.
English walnuts: Add crunch and a slightly bitter, nutty flavor against the sweet fruit.
Grapes: Contribute natural sweetness and juiciness to the salad.
Mayonnaise dressing: Binds the fruit and nuts together and adds richness and creamy moisture.