Name: Fruit Salad
Ingredients: equal quantities of green grapes; equal quantities of oranges; equal quantities of pineapples; equal quantities of grapefruit; equal quantities of maraschino cherries or candied cherries; sherry

Why it works: Orange and grapefruit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 233 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Fruit Salad

Ingredients

equal quantities of green grapes
equal quantities of oranges
equal quantities of pineapples
equal quantities of grapefruit
equal quantities of maraschino cherries or candied cherries
sherry

Directions

Prepare

Cut the green grapes, oranges, pineapples, grapefruit, and cherries into small pieces.
Mix all the fruits together in a bowl.

Serve

Serve with sherry poured over the top.
For a frozen version, combine the grapes and pineapples with plenty of sherry and freeze.

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.

Orange + grapefruittop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together233 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Grape + pineappletop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together709 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Pineapple + grapefruittop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together95 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Grape + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,771 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Green grapes: Adds juicy sweetness and a firm bite that holds its shape in the salad.
Oranges: Provide sweetness and acidity along with juicy segments that add moisture.
Pineapples: Contribute sweet, tangy juice and firm pieces that keep their texture.
Grapefruit: Adds bitterness and acidity that balances the sweetness of the other fruits.
Maraschino cherries or candied cherries: Add concentrated sweetness and a bright color to the fruit mix.
Sherry: Adds aroma and a sweet, mellow flavor that soaks into the fruit.