Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Banana

Analysing hundreds of thousands of recipes uncovers banana's optimal flavour pairings.

Creamy sweetness and pyrus notes are at the forefront of banana's flavour profile, but identifying its perfect partner requires exploring its subtle nuances. We must examine the complex interplay of notes within its bouquet, like sugar, honey, and hints of starch. We need to understand how these notes affect each other and which complementary flavors they harmonise with.

To map these harmonies, we analysed thousands of ingredients, breaking each one down across 150 flavour dimensions, identifying which notes complement and contrast. Our exploration reveals, for instance, how the piney, woody α-pinene in lemon can resonate with banana, and how star anise's liquorice notes forge a beautiful synergy with its creamy sweetness.

An ingredient's flavour profile is determined by its core characteristics (e.g. nectarous, floral, and acidic) enhanced by layers of subtle aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim for a mix of core traits to build balance, and select complementary aroma notes to create harmony.

The Secret Language of Flavour

To understand exactly which flavours harmonise, we compiled a database of over 50,000 ingredient pairings commonly used in cooking. We then analysed these pairings, identifying the specific flavour notes that frequently appear together.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Banana Notes

Our analysis shows that the flavour of banana is strongly associated with the flavour of liquorice. This suggests we should look for ingredients with a liquorice flavour, such as star anise, when pairing with the banana-like aroma accents of banana.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing banana with star anise.

Harmonious Flavours Of Banana

Just as our ingredient analysis revealed that banana and pencil-lead notes are commonly paired, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in banana. For instance, the pear-like notes of banana are strongly associated with seaweedy and porky notes.

The aroma notes associated with the various notes of banana can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of lemon offers many of the aromas complementary to banana, including cedar and grapefruit accents. Because the flavour profile of lemon has many of the of the features that are complementary to banana, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of lemon across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with banana.

Recipes That Pair Banana With Lemon

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the notes that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of banana, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of banana, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the accents complementary to banana.

What To Drink With Banana

The graphite notes in saumur champigny make it a perfect pairing with banana. Likewise, the graphite flavours in faugères create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of banana below.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Banana), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.