Name: Spice Vinegar for Sour Pickles
Ingredients: 100 gallons of 40-grain vinegar; 2 pounds of coriander seed; 2 pounds of yellow mustard seed; ½ pound of cloves; ½ pound of black pepper; 2 pounds of pulverized alum

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Spice Vinegar for Sour Pickles

Ingredients

100 gallons of 40-grain vinegar
2 pounds of coriander seed
2 pounds of yellow mustard seed
½ pound of cloves
½ pound of black pepper
2 pounds of pulverized alum

Directions

Prepare the spiced vinegar

Prepare the spiced vinegar at least 10 days before using.
Strain out the spices before using the vinegar in the bottles.

Pack and cover

After the pickles have been in the first sour vinegar for five days, pack them into bottles.
Cover the pickles with the spiced vinegar made from the ingredients listed.
If desired, add a small pinch of allspice to the bottles for visual appeal.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,949 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Coriander + clovetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,221 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,829 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

40-grain vinegar: Provides the sour base that preserves and flavours the pickles.
Coriander seed: Adds a warm, citrusy aroma to the spiced vinegar.
Yellow mustard seed: Contributes a sharp, pungent flavour that infuses into the vinegar.
Cloves: Adds strong, sweet-spicy aroma to the spiced vinegar.
Black pepper: Adds pungent heat and aroma to the spiced vinegar.
Pulverized alum: Helps firm the pickles' texture.

The step that matters

Prepare the spiced vinegar at least 10 days before using. The spices need time to steep so their flavour and aroma pass into the vinegar. Using it too early gives a weak, under-spiced liquid.

Swap the coriander

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

Allspicefits better
Tarragonfits better
Thymefits better
Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, clove, pepper. 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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Spice Vinegar for Sour Pickles