Why it works: Banana and pumpkin work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 99 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
1 - 9x5 inch loaf panIngredients
Contains: egg, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas well. Whisk in the eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, honey and white sugar until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice and ground cinnamon.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.
Fold in the raisins and walnut pieces if using, reserving a few for the top if you like.
Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle any reserved raisins or walnuts over the surface.
Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when pressed.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a rack and let it cool completely before slicing.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Banana + pumpkintop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together99 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Pumpkin + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Banana + honeytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together395 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Honey + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,446 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the raisin
The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (banana, egg, pumpkin, honey, sugar, flour, cinnamon):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Applebetter flavor fit
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against banana, egg, pumpkin, honey, sugar, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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