Dandelion is a flower with 239 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is dihydroactinidiolide. It pairs most strongly with burdock, sharing 211 flavor compounds. Dandelion appears in 243 recipes, most commonly in world 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), Dandelion's inventory contains 37. Most of the other 202 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 25 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 Dandelion's 239 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
17 of 239 are distinctive to dandelion — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in dandelion — 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 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.
Dandelion 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 Dandelion side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
Dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz.) flower tea is valued for its flavor and health potential, whilst brewing methods critically influence its quality. This study investiga... Read abstract →
Targeting northern marginal tea regions (37°N, Zhaoyuan, China), this study uniquely integrates seasonal processing (spring green, summer black, autumn dark tea) with chemical-sens... Read abstract →
Adult house flies (Musca domestica L.) are often a major pest at livestock facilities, where oviposition occurs on decomposing organic matter, such as manure. Some potential foods... Read abstract →
Dandelion is a well-known wild vegetable and traditional medicine herb widely distributed in nature. Extraction, compositional analysis, in vitro antioxidant and antiproliferative... Read abstract →
This study aimed to develop a sustainable approach for isolating bioactive lipophilic components from <i>Taraxacum officinale</i> flowers using supercritical carbon dioxide extract... Read abstract →
