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Charleston Pickled Artichokes

A pickled artichoke recipe using cider vinegar, cold water, allspice, cayenne pepper, red peppers, sugar, and burnt alum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Charleston Pickled Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickle

  1. Remove artichokes from brine.

  2. Combine cider vinegar, cold water, allspice, cayenne pepper, chopped red peppers, granulated sugar, and burnt alum in a bowl, mix well, and pour over the artichokes.

Store

  1. Seal in jars or crocks.

  2. Do not open for 3 weeks.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Cider + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together873 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the artichokes and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Burnt alum
Helps the artichokes stay firm and crisp during pickling.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Seal and wait 3 weeks. Sealing keeps air and contamination out, and the flavors and acidity need time to penetrate the artichokes. Opening early leaves them underdeveloped and less safely preserved.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, pepper, sugar):

  1. Allspicethe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, pepper, sugar. 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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