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Sweet and Sour Pickled Beets

"These are quick and easy to make. You'll want to snack on them right out of the jar. They're much more flavorful than those bland sliced beets you see on salad bars."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Sweet and Sour Pickled Beets

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Sweet and Sour Pickled Beets

1 pint
Prep5 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

100Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
24 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Beet1/2 cup (85g)35
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Apple cider vinegar + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together455 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Apple cider vinegar + cinnamontop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together84 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Apple cider vinegar + clovetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together105 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple cider vinegar, sugar, cinnamon):

  1. Gingerfits about as well
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple cider vinegar, sugar, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.