Name: Morgan Estate Green Tomato Relish
Ingredients: 6 red sweet peppers; 2 pounds green tomatoes; 2 pounds sweet onions; 1 small head cabbage; 3 sweet green peppers; ¼ cup pickling salt; 3½ cups sugar; 2 cups apple cider vinegar; 1 cup water; 1 tablespoons mustard seed; 1 tablespoons ground turmeric; 2 teaspoons celery seed

Why it works: Mustard and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

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.

Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,279 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Pickling salt: Draws water out of the vegetables, firming them and concentrating their flavor before cooking.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and helps preserve the relish.
Apple cider vinegar: Provides acidity that sharpens flavor and helps keep the relish safe for canning.
Green tomatoes: Supply the bulk of the relish, with a firm texture and tart flavor.
Mustard seed: Adds a sharp, pungent flavor that gives the relish its characteristic bite.

The step that matters

Drain and rinse after the salt rest. The vegetables have absorbed a lot of salt during the 12 to 18 hour rest. Rinsing well removes excess surface salt so the relish is not overly salty, and draining removes liquid that would dilute the vinegar and sugar mixture.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, cabbage, sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, turmeric):

Horseradishfits better
Broccolifits better
Lettucefits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, cabbage, sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, turmeric. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Morgan Estate Green Tomato Relish