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Watermelon Pickle

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Watermelon Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut rind in inch pieces, and soak in a weak brine over night. In the morning rinse well and drop in strong boiling alum water. (One tablespoonful of powdered alum to two quarts of water). Let stand fifteen minutes. Then drop in ice water. Let re- main until cold. Make a syrup of cup of sugar and one quart of water. When boiling drop melon in and simmer six to eight hours. Pour off this syrup and drop the melon into a syrup made of two cups of vinegar and six cups of sugar. Add spices tied in a cheese cloth. Let boil thoroughly and remain over night in the syrup. Next morning fill the jars full of the melon boiling down the syrup and pour into the jars. Seal.

  2. 354 ROCKY MOUNTAIN COOK BOOK.

  3. CONFITURE.

  4. 5 boxes of cherries. I 5 oranges.

  5. Grate rind of half the oranges ; peel the rest and slice in thin pieces ; chop raisins ; stone cherries ; first add the sugar and let remain until the other things are prepared, then mix together and boil hard thirty minutes.

  6. CANDIES. 355

  7. Fondant is the basis of all French cream candies and can be kept any length of time, if air tight and in a cool place. A great variety of bonbons and choco- lates can be made from it by using different flavor- ings, nuts and fruits, and also makes a delicious icing for small and large cakes. White grapes and straw- berries with the hulls on dipped in the fondant makes a delicious bonbon.

  8. To Make Mints. — When the fondant is rather a thin cream, flavor with mint, drop on buttered slab or rice paper from a teaspoon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

201Calories
3 gProtein
0 gFat
50 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Waternot 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.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,245 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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 orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Orangethe original

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

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