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Mixed Fruit Pickles

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, figs, raisins, and canned fruit in a spiced syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mixed Fruit Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Soak two dozen large cucumber sour pickles and one dozen small cucumber sweet pickles in clear water for two days, changing water several times.

  2. Peel the large cucumbers and cut into long strips, thick rounds, and other fancy shapes.

Prepare the fruit

  1. Place the sliced large cucumbers in a jar with the small cucumbers, canned peaches, sliced pineapple, and white cherries.

  2. Drain juice from pineapple and cherries, but retain the peach juice; put the drained pineapple and cherries in another jar.

  3. In another jar, put one pound of figs washed well and two pounds of raisins on the stem washed in hot water.

Make the syrup and pack

  1. Make a syrup of four pounds light brown sugar and one-half gallon cider vinegar.

  2. Add two tablespoonfuls ground mustard, five cents worth each of mace and cloves (whole), stick cinnamon and mustard seed to the syrup.

  3. Boil the mixture to a thick syrup.

  4. Divide the syrup into three parts and pour over the jar of cucumbers, the jar of canned fruit, and the jar of figs and raisins.

  5. Close the jars tightly.

Ripen

  1. The pickles will be ready in a week or ten days; canned fruit may be prepared several days after the cucumbers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

183Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
46 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Fig1 medium (50g)37
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Waternot in our table0
Cidernot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

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

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. See the original page.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that preserves the fruit and balances the sweetness of the syrup.
Light brown sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps thicken it as it boils down.
Figs
Add body and natural sweetness to the jar of dried fruit.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the mixture.
Ground mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts through the sweetness of the syrup.
Cucumber sour pickles
Give the pickle its firm texture and tangy, salt-cured flavour.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup to a thick consistency. Boiling concentrates the sugar and vinegar so the syrup thickens and preserves the fruit. If it stays thin, the syrup is too watery to protect the fruit and may spoil.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fig, raisin, sugar, cucumber, cider, vinegar, mustard):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fig, raisin, sugar, cucumber, cider, vinegar, mustard. 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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