Every compound, and where it comes from
The molecules the index keeps naming: the aroma in an oil, the acid that brightens a dish, the alkaloid that warms you. Each one drawn, traced to its plants, and linked to the recipes that use it.
gingerol
The pungent principle of fresh ginger: the molecule behind the root's heat, working on the same receptor as chilli.
anethole
The sweet, licorice-anise aromatic in anise, fennel and star anise, and the reason arak clouds when water dilutes it.
linalool
The soft floral-citrus oil behind lavender's calm and coriander's lift, at very different strengths across the spice rack.
menthol
The molecule that tricks the TRPM8 cold receptor into firing at body temperature, without moving a thermometer at all.
cineole
The eucalyptus-cool ether that opens cardamom and bay leaf, water-soluble enough to survive an open pot at a boil.
α-bisabolol
The soft sesquiterpene alcohol chamomile's oil is built on, though a cup of tea pulls almost none of it out.
cuminaldehyde
The earthy aldehyde a cumin seed builds on its own, turned pungent the moment dry heat meets the pan.
piperine
Black pepper's alkaloid, taxed by the talent in ancient Rome, that fires the same heat receptor as chili, more broadly and less sharply.
glutamic acid
The amino acid behind savoury depth: free in cooked meat, broth and cheese, it is umami itself once it slips loose of protein.
pyrazines
A family of ring compounds born wherever amino acids meet sugar under heat: the smell behind anything roasted, browned or toasted.
cinnamaldehyde
Cinnamon bark's dominant aldehyde, the sweet-woody warmth that both true cinnamon and cassia build their oil around.
anthocyanins
The pigments behind blue, purple and red in a cup: heat-stable but bleached by light and by warm, neutral water.
apigenin
Chamomile's sedative flavone, bound to sugar in the flower and mostly gone again by the time it reaches a cup.
citric acid
The tricarboxylic acid behind citrus tartness, now usually fermented from a mould rather than squeezed from a lemon.
citronellol
The most abundant scented alcohol in rose oil, the body of a rose's smell rather than the trace note that makes it unmistakable.
curcumin
Turmeric's yellow pigment, an unstable pH indicator whose real-world health effects remain unproven despite decades of trials.
allicin
The pungent sulfur compound garlic assembles the instant its cells are broken, and destroys itself again within hours.
caffeine
The plant alkaloid that blocks adenosine receptors instead of adding energy, made independently by six unrelated plant families.
eugenol
Clove and allspice's shared phenol, delivering a burn and a numbness through two different receptor mechanisms at once.
glycyrrhizin
Licorice root's intensely sweet saponin, active enough after swallowing that regulators cap total daily intake at 100 milligrams.
capsaicin
Chili's alkaloid, the benchmark this site measures every other burn against, working through the heat receptor TRPV1.
fructose
The sweetest of the fruit sugars, and the first to caramelise: it browns at a notably lower temperature than glucose or table sugar.
lactic acid
The souring acid of fermented milk: it curdles yogurt by collapsing casein's charge, and its bacteria carry their own digestive shortcut.
maltol
A caramel-smelling compound formed wherever flour or sugar browns, reading as sweetness even in a dish with none added.
tryptophan
An essential amino acid carried in this library's meat and cocoa, the building block for serotonin, in amounts too small to feel.
vanillin
The single aroma molecule behind vanilla, locked in the green pod as an inert sugar until curing sets it free.