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Preserve

Cucumber Mangoes

Green cucumbers are soaked, pickled in vinegar, stuffed with a cabbage and spice filling, and stored in a jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Cucumber Mangoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Soak one hundred large green cucumbers, in which the seeds are beginning to harden, in weak salt and water for five or six days, with a light weight over them to keep them under the water.

  2. Take them out and put them in a preserving kettle with weak vinegar, in which put a piece of alum about the size of a walnut.

  3. Scald them and set them aside in the vinegar for four or five days.

  4. At the end of that time, take them out and wipe them dry.

  5. Cut a long slice about an inch wide out of one side of each cucumber and take out the seeds.

Stuff and pack

  1. Fill the cucumbers with one large head of cabbage cut very fine, a pint of white mustard seed, one ounce of celery seed, one ounce of allspice, a half ounce of mace, a half ounce of cloves, one ounce of turmeric, one ounce of pepper, two ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of ginger, and two or three onions, according to size, chopped fine.

  2. After filling, sew or tie the cucumbers up and place them in a jar.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour strong vinegar, boiling hot, over them, in which you can put spices or horse-radish, and two or three red peppers.

  2. Tie the jar down when cold with heavy paper and place it in a cool cellar.

  3. Use good white wine vinegar and keep the jar perfectly clean, as the quality of the vinegar and the cleanliness of the jar matter greatly in all pickles.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

185Calories
8 gProtein
5 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Macenot in our table0
Seednot 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 Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the pickle shell and, once brined and cured, give the crisp-firm bite.
White mustard seed
Adds sharp pungency that mellows during the long vinegar pickling.
Cabbage
Fills the cavity and adds bulk that soaks up the pickling vinegar.
Onions
Contribute pungent flavour that softens and mellows in the vinegar.
Cinnamon (in the method)
Adds warm aromatic sweetness to the spiced filling.
Alum
Helps firm the cucumber tissue so it resists softening in the brine.

The step that matters

Keeping the jar clean and the vinegar strong. Any spoilage microbes left in the jar or weak vinegar can multiply and soften or spoil the pickles. Strong acid and a clean jar keep the brine preserving the cucumbers over long storage.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, allspice, clove, turmeric, pepper, ginger, walnut):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, allspice, clove, turmeric, pepper, ginger, walnut. 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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