Why it works: Clove and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
Pickled Cherries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the spices and syrup
Five pounds of cherries, stoned or not.
One quart of vinegar, two pounds of sugar, one-half ounce of cinnamon.
One-half ounce of cloves, one-half ounce of mace.
Boil the sugar and vinegar and spices together.
Grind the spices and tie them in a muslin bag.
Pickle the cherries
Pour hot over the cherries.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Cherry | 1 cup (138g) | 87 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,386 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,415 recipes
-
Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit that absorbs the syrup and becomes tender and flavourful.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the fruit.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar's sharpness and helps preserve the fruit.
- Cinnamon (in the method)
- Adds warm, sweet aroma to the pickling syrup.
- Cloves
- Adds strong, warm aroma and spice flavour to the syrup.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the pickling syrup.
The step that matters
Pour hot over the cherries.. Hot syrup penetrates the fruit more readily and helps it take up the vinegar, sugar and spice flavours. Pouring it cool would give a weaker, less even pickle.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, clove):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Gingerfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, clove. 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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