Skip to main content
Main

Green Pickle

A method for making green pickles using brine, vinegar, spices, and alum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Green Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Soak the pickles in a strong brine for three weeks, ensuring they are always covered. Drain the brine.

  2. Pour boiling water over the pickles for three consecutive mornings.

  3. Soak the pickles in cold water for two days. Change the water each morning.

Scald and layer

  1. Scald the pickles in a mixture of 2 quarts water and 1 quart vinegar for three mornings.

  2. Layer the pickles in a jar, sprinkling powdered alum on each layer. Only use alum on the first day.

  3. Pour the weakened vinegar over the pickles. For the next two days, pour off the vinegar and add fresh.

Season and pack

  1. To season 1 gallon of vinegar, mix brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, oil of cloves or cloves, celery seed, red pepper, and grated horseradish.

  2. Fill jars with the prepared pickles.

  3. Pour seasoned boiling vinegar over the pickles.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Pickles
The main food being cured, softened and flavoured by the brine, vinegar and spice mixture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp, tangy character.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons the brine that firms them up.
Celery seed
Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the pickling liquid.
Horseradish
Adds a pungent heat that mellows as the pickles sit.

The step that matters

Keeping the pickles covered during the three-week brine. Any part of the pickles left above the brine can spoil or soften, because air exposure encourages mould and spoilage microbes. Keeping everything submerged protects the batch.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, pepper, clove):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, pepper, clove. 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesHorseradish SauceHorseradish Sauce17 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipes