Name: First Sweet Vinegar Without Preservatives
Ingredients: 2 pounds whole cloves; 2 pounds coriander seed; 1 pound yellow mustard seed; 4 pounds alum; 90 gallons water; 600 pounds granulated sugar; 5 ounces 80% acetic acid

Why it works: Clove and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,221 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

First Sweet Vinegar Without Preservatives

Ingredients

Directions

Combine 10 gallons of water with 5 ounces of 80% acetic acid.
In a separate container, mix 2 pounds of whole cloves, 2 pounds of coriander seed, 1 pound of yellow mustard seed, 4 pounds of alum, and 600 pounds of granulated sugar.
Add the acetic acid mixture to the syrup.
Dilute with the remaining 80 gallons of water.

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.

Clove + coriandertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,221 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,829 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Coriander + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together967 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Clove + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together17,182 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Clove and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar: Provides sweetness and body, balancing the sharpness of the acetic acid.
80% acetic acid: Supplies the sour, sharp acidity that defines the vinegar.
Whole cloves: Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the vinegar.
Coriander seed: Contributes a citrusy, aromatic flavour to the vinegar.
Yellow mustard seed: Adds pungent, aromatic flavour to the vinegar.