Chestnut is a nut with 239 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is 3-methyl-2(5h)-furanone. It pairs most strongly with mushroom, sharing 219 flavor compounds. Chestnut appears in 2,212 recipes, most commonly in chinese cuisine.
Compounds ranked by rarity — the higher the score, the more distinctive to this ingredient.
Of the ~226 molecules that drive perceived food aroma (Dunkel et al. 2014), Chestnut's inventory contains 42. Most of the other 197 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 30 more — showing top 12 by class and threshold.
Generalist = appears in >25% of foods (Maillard / fermentation products). Individualist = appears in <5% of foods (carries signature notes). Threshold values are in clean water — the actual perception threshold in a food matrix can differ substantially.
How Chestnut's 239 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
18 of 239 are distinctive to chestnut — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in chestnut — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.
Ranked by median concentration across published studies. Only 1 of Chestnut's 239 compounds have a measured concentration in the literature — the rest are confirmed present but not yet quantified. Bars are log-scaled.
Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.
Chestnut and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.
Compare Chestnut side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
The relative contributions of tea cultivar versus processing method in shaping the aroma profile of tea remain a scientific question. This study employed headspace solid-phase micr... Read abstract →
This study compares beech (Fagus sylvatica) and chestnut (Castanea sativa) honeydew honeys through analyses of physicochemical properties, pollen composition, phenolic and volatile... Read abstract →
This study investigated the effects of three thermal processing methods-steaming (100 °C), air frying (150 °C), and roasting (200 °C)-on the quality, structure, and flavor profiles... Read abstract →
Abstract The unique flavor profile of sugar-fried Yanshan chestnuts is determined by their distinct aroma components. Research on these components is conducted using molecular sens... Read abstract →
Spreading, the preliminary step in the production of green tea, is crucial for achieving superior tea quality. This study investigated the effects of spreading on the sensory quali... Read abstract →
