Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Pickled Walnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the walnuts
Gather walnuts that can be pierced with a needle.
Cover the walnuts with brine made from 1.5 pounds of salt in 1 gallon of water.
Let the brined walnuts stand in a cool place for 3 weeks.
Drain the walnuts in a colander.
Pickle in vinegar
Wash and wipe the jars.
Return the walnuts to the jars and cover them with best cider vinegar.
Let the vinegar-covered walnuts sit for 1 month.
Remove the walnuts from the jars.
Rinse the walnuts.
Wipe the jars again.
Put the walnuts back in the jars.
Sprinkle the walnuts with 1 ounce of mustard seed.
Spice and seal
In a pot, combine enough vinegar to cover the walnuts with 1 ounce of cloves, 1 ounce of black pepper, 1 ounce of stick cinnamon, 0.5 ounce of mace, and 0.5 ounce of ground ginger.
Boil the mixture for 10 minutes.
Allow the mixture to cool.
Pour the cooled mixture over the walnuts.
Seal the jars tightly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnuts (in the method)
- Main ingredient that is cured and pickled, becoming firm and dark as it soaks.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the walnuts and seasons them during the brine stage.
- Cider vinegar
- Acid that preserves the walnuts and gives them their sharp, tangy flavour.
- Cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, pungent heat to the pickling liquid.
- Cinnamon
- Adds sweet, woody aroma to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Brining the walnuts for 3 weeks in a cool place. The salt brine must fully penetrate the walnuts and draw out bitterness and moisture. A cool temperature slows spoilage while the salt works, so the walnuts stay firm instead of fermenting or rotting.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, mustard, clove, pepper, cinnamon, ginger):
- Allspicefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, mustard, clove, pepper, cinnamon, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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