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Walnut Pickle

A pickled walnut preserved in vinegar, spices, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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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 ↓

Walnut Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnuts

  1. Soak green walnuts in fresh water.

  2. Rub walnuts with a coarse towel.

  3. Keep walnuts in brine for a week, changing the brine every third day.

  4. Soak walnuts in clear water for several hours.

  5. Boil walnuts in a mixture of vinegar and water until soft.

  6. Rub walnuts with a coarse towel.

  7. Soak walnuts in weak vinegar for 1-2 days.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Boil together 1 gallon vinegar, ginger, garlic, horseradish, and spices to prepare pickling liquid.

Pickle and rest

  1. Pour hot pickling liquid over walnuts.

  2. Let sit for 2-3 weeks before using.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Green walnuts
Provide the main bulk and bitter, earthy flavor that the soaking and brining gradually mellow.
Coarse salt
Draws moisture out of the walnuts and helps draw out bitterness during brining.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy character.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Ginger
Adds warm, pungent aroma to the pickling liquid.
Garlic
Adds pungent savory aroma that deepens as the pickle rests.

The step that matters

Boiling walnuts until soft. Walnuts that are under-boiled stay firm and may taste harsh, while overcooking breaks them down. Soft, evenly cooked walnuts absorb the pickling liquid more evenly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, sugar, ginger, garlic):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, sugar, ginger, garlic. 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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