Name: Melon Surprise
Ingredients: small melons; nutmeg ice or cantaloupe ice; wine or ice cream or whipped cream

Why it works: Melon and wine work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 52 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Melon Surprise

Ingredients

small melons
nutmeg ice or cantaloupe ice
wine or ice cream or whipped cream

Directions

Cut a slice across the top of each small melon to create a lid.
Scoop out the inside of the melons.
Fill the melons with nutmeg ice, cantaloupe ice, wine, ice cream, or whipped cream.
If the shells are chilled beforehand, place them on ice after filling to keep them cool for several hours.

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.

Melon + winetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together52 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Melon + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together58 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Nutmeg + winetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,356 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).