Because it’s seasonal… Food pairing with pumpkins!
The major classes of compound that flavour fresh pumpkins are aliphatic alcohols and carbonyls, furan derivatives and sulfur-containing compounds.
Major constituents (and foods that will match them) are:
- (Z)-3-hexenol – broccoli, sweet peppers
- (E)-2-hexenal – ripe tomatoes, habanero peppers (!)
- 2-3-butanedione (diacetyl) – butter, some beers, chardonnay, sweet potato
- 3-(methylthio)propanal – potato, red wine (especially cabernets)
- methylformylthiophene – seemingly this compound is characteristic of pumpkin!
- dimethyl sulphide – some butters, corn, cabbage, beetroot, seafoods
- furfural – corn, oat and wheat bran
…Which explains why last year’s pumpkin lasagne with broccoli and salmon was so good!
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