Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓
Sweet Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Mix sugar and vinegar in a pot and bring to a boil.
Tie spices in a muslin bag and add to the boiling syrup.
Prepare the fruit
Steam apples, melon rinds, cucumbers, and pears until tender enough to pierce with a fork.
Prick smooth-skinned fruits such as plums with a needle before cooking.
If peaches are not very ripe, steam them.
If peaches are ripe, rub them with a cloth.
Add the prepared pickles to the boiling syrup and cook until tender.
Jar and cool
Transfer the pickles to jars.
Let the pickles cool before sealing.
Pour boiling syrup over the pickles.
Let the pickles sit overnight.
Drain the pickles.
Boil the syrup again.
Repeat and seal
Repeat the process for 4 to 5 days before sealing.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps preserve the fruit while it absorbs the syrup.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the pickles.
- Fruits or vegetables
- Form the body of the pickle, becoming tender and absorbing the spiced syrup.
- Cinnamon
- Contributes warm aroma to the spiced syrup.
- Cloves
- Contribute a pungent, warm aroma to the spiced syrup.
The step that matters
Cook the fruit until just tender. Fruit steamed or simmered until it can be pierced with a fork softens enough to absorb syrup. Underdone fruit stays firm and bitter-textured, while overcooked fruit breaks down and turns mushy.
Swap the allspice
The recipe marks allspice as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mace, ginger, apple):
- Allspicethe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cardamomfits less well
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mace, ginger, apple. 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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