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To Pickle Young Artichokes

A method for pickling young artichokes in vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

To Pickle Young Artichokes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gather young artichokes as soon as they are formed.

  2. Soak them in a strong saltwater solution for 2–3 minutes.

  3. Drain them on a fine sieve until cold.

  4. Place them in narrow-topped jars.

Pickle and seal

  1. Cover the artichokes with enough white wine vinegar.

  2. Add 1–2 blades of mace and a few slices of ginger and nutmeg.

  3. Pour the vinegar over the artichokes while hot and seal the jars.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Artichoke + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together156 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

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

  5. Artichoke + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together206 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Young artichokes
Provide the tender body that softens slightly and absorbs the pickling flavours.
White wine vinegar
Acidity that preserves the artichokes and gives them their sharp, tangy taste.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the artichokes during the brief soak and helps draw out moisture.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note that infuses into the vinegar.
Ginger
Contributes a bright, peppery aroma that complements the vinegar.

The step that matters

Pour the vinegar over the artichokes while hot and seal the jars. Hot vinegar helps drive air out of the artichokes and jars, so they pack more tightly and the seal forms well. Keeping the artichokes fully covered by liquid prevents spoilage at the surface.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, white wine, vinegar, ginger, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, white wine, vinegar, ginger, nutmeg. 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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