Cinnamon is a spice with 326 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is 2-methoxybenzaldehyde (a almond, cherry, marzipan note). It pairs most strongly with clove, sharing 249 flavor compounds. Cinnamon appears in 38,368 recipes, most commonly in indian cuisine.
Cinnamaldehyde is the character-impact compound. More citrusy than cassia thanks to limonene and geranial which add refreshing notes.
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), Cinnamon's inventory contains 62. Most of the other 264 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 50 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 Cinnamon's 326 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
75 of 326 are distinctive to cinnamon — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in cinnamon — 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 4 of Cinnamon's 326 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.
Cinnamon 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 Cinnamon side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
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