Why it works: Syrup and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,855 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Greengage Water Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Boil the greengages with water until soft.
Rub the mixture through a strainer to obtain pulp.
Finish and freeze
Mix the pulp with spinach-greening gradually.
Add syrup and vanilla, then stir well.
Freeze the mixture and set it up in a mold.
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.
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Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,855 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Vanilla + spinachtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together83 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Syrup + spinachtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together36 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Greengages
- Provide the main fruit flavour and acidity, and the pulp gives the ice its body.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer.
- Spinach-greening
- Colours the mixture green.
- Vanilla
- Adds a subtle aroma.
Swap the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, vanilla):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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