Lotus is an essential oil with 287 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is ethyl palmitoleate. It pairs most strongly with longan, sharing 201 flavor compounds. Lotus appears in 38 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), Lotus's inventory contains 41. Most of the other 246 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 29 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 Lotus's 287 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
66 of 287 are distinctive to lotus — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in lotus — 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.
Lotus 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 Lotus side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
This study investigated the effects of three thermal processing methods (microwave, MW; sous-vide, SV; and air frying, AF) on the texture, color, volatile, and nonvolatile componen... Read abstract →
To investigate the dynamic changes in flavor characteristics of lotus root whole powder (LRWP) during combined hot-air drying and baking, and the effect of lysine supplementation b... Read abstract →
Lotus seed drill core powder starch (LCPS)-based active packaging films incorporated with cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and grapefruit essential oil-corn nanostarch Pickering emulsi... Read abstract →
Water lilies, members of the Nymphaeaceae family, are globally cultivated aquatic plants known for their diverse colors and significant ornamental, economic, beverage, medicinal, a... Read abstract →
A range of natural products have been extensively studied for their chemopreventive potential for cancer, including those that inhibit growth and induce apoptosis. Sidr honey deriv... Read abstract →