Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Ice Cream

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

Ice cream conjures the evocative embrace of butter and the kiss of vanilla, woven with delicate hints of lactic acid, sugar, and caramel, contributing remarkable depth. The culinary wizardry unfolds when we pair ice cream with ingredients that let these nuances sing.

To chart these harmonies, we analysed thousands of ingredients, each deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, pinpointing the notes that best complement this ingredient’s profile. Our analysis reveals, for example, how lemon's cedrine tones resonate with ice cream, and how prune's prunus notes create a surprising synergy with its sweet aroma.

An ingredient's flavour stems from its core characteristics, such as nectarous, floral, or acidic, combined with layers of subtle flavour notes (outer bars). For a balanced dish, pair ingredients with a variety of core flavours, and choose complementary aroma notes for harmony.

The Flavour Code

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Vanilla Notes

Our analysis reveals a strong connection between vanilla and plum flavours. Since ice cream has a distinct vanillic flavour, try pairing it with the plum-like flavours of prune.

The recipe below provides inspiration for pairing ice cream with prune.

Harmonious Flavours Of Ice Cream

Just as our analysis showed that vanilla and allspice-like flavours are often used together, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in ice cream. E.g. the lactic acid notes of ice cream are often used with cocoa and blackberry accents.

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

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of lemon offers many of the aroma accents complementary to ice cream, including cedar and grapefruit aroma accents. Because the flavour profile of lemon has many of the of the features that are complementary to ice cream, 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 ice cream.

Recipes That Pair Ice Cream With Lemon

Linked Flavour Notes

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

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

Which Fruit Go With Ice Cream?

Choose fruit that ground its sweetness or ground its golden sweetness. Lemon and lemon zest offer vibrant, clean counterpoints, their verdant freshness lifting the palate. Orange add a gentle, oniony brightness, while lime juice introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace fruit that harmonise with ice cream's vanilliness. The addition of berry, with its subtle prunus notes, can complement the vanilla beautifully, while blackberry lends a juicy aroma.

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., Ice Cream), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.