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Spanish Fig & Almond Balls

A festive version of Pan de Higo, a dried fig cake that the Spanish traditionally eat with cheese and a drizzle of honey

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Spanish Fig & Almond Balls

Why it works: Fig and apricot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 97 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Spanish Fig & Almond Balls

Makes 6 balls
Prep20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

314Calories
2 gProtein
15 gFat
48 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Fig1 medium (50g)37
Apricot1 medium (35g)17
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Brandynot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Fig + apricottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together97 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Almond + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Almond + figtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together519 recipes

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

  4. Fig + honeytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together228 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the sesame

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, fig, apricot, brandy, honey, clove):

  1. Pistachiofits better
  2. Hazelnutfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Sesamethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, fig, apricot, brandy, honey, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.