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Processing Burgherkins and Melon Mangos

A pickled preparation of burgherkins and melon mangos with alum, turmeric, vinegar, and sweet liquor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Melon and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 416 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Processing Burgherkins and Melon Mangos

Ingredients

Directions

Soak and treat

  1. Soak burgherkins and melons in fresh water for 12 hours.

  2. Drain and cover again with fresh water, adding ½ cup alum and 2 ounces turmeric for each 11 barrels.

  3. Heat the mixture to 130°F (54°C) and no higher.

  4. Let them stand for 12 hours, then sort.

Pack and pickle

  1. Pack in 50 grain white vinegar for mixed pickles.

  2. For stuffing, soak melons in 30 grain vinegar for 10 days before adding sweet liquor.

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. Melon + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together416 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Melon + turmerictop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Turmeric + vinegartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Burgherkins
Form the main body of the pickle and keep their firm, crisp texture during soaking.
Melons
Provide the bulk of the pickle and absorb the vinegar and liquor flavours.
Alum
Firms the flesh so it resists softening during heating and pickling.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow colour and a mild, earthy aroma.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the pickle and sharpens its flavour.
Sweet liquor
Adds sweetness and liquid that flavours the stuffed melons.

The step that matters

Heat the mixture to 130°F (54°C) and no higher. Heating firms the pickle without cooking it soft; going above this temperature can break down the flesh and make it mushy, so the limit matters.

Swap the turmeric

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

  1. Peppermintfits better
  2. Mintfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Turmericthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against melon, vinegar. 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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