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!

Nom!