Name: Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients: three pounds brown sugar; a handful of green grapes; six hundred small cucumbers; three green peppers

Why it works: Grape and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,909 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

three pounds brown sugar
a handful of green grapes
six hundred small cucumbers
three green peppers

Directions

Prepare

Use six hundred small cucumbers.
Make a brine that will bear up an egg.
Let them stand in this for forty-eight hours.

Pickle and finish

Take enough vinegar to cover them, heat to nearly boiling, set off and let stand twenty-four hours.
Afterward put on new vinegar, three pounds brown sugar, a handful each of mustard seed, cloves, stick cinnamon, three green peppers, teaspoon celery seed, a few pieces of ginger root.
When done add a handful of green grapes and a little horseradish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

133Calories

1 gProtein

0 gFat

34 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Green Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6

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

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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.

Grape + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,909 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,991 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Grape + cucumbertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together380 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sugar + grapetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + cucumbertop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,112 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Small cucumbers: The main vegetable that is pickled and softened by the brine and vinegar.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar in the pickling liquid.
Vinegar (in the method): Acidic liquid that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.