Name: Apple Sweet Pickle
Ingredients: five pounds of sugar; one quart of vinegar; one half ounces of stick cinnamon; one half ounces of cloves; one ounce of white mustard; eight pounds of apples; two pounds of sugar; half gallon of vinegar; one half gallon of water; one pint of white mustard riecd; one half ounce of mace; one half ounce of cinnamon; one ounce celery seed; two cloves of garlic; one pint of cabbage; three pounds of sugar; one gallon good vinegar; one dozen cloves; one half tea-spoonful anise seed; 40 sweet pickie recipes

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Clove + appletop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,774 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,668 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Softened by boiling until tender, giving the pickle its fruit body and texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and helps preserve the pickle.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavor and helps preserve it.
Stick cinnamon: Adds warm, sweet aroma to the spiced liquid.
Cloves: Adds strong, warm spice flavor to the spiced liquid.
White mustard: Adds a sharp, pungent flavor to the spiced liquid.

The step that matters

Boil the apples until tender. Apples keep softening in their hot liquid after they leave the heat. Overcooking them makes them break down into mush, so they should be checked for tenderness and removed once they are just tender.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard, apple, celery):

Allspicefits better
Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard, apple, celery. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
White Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Water	not in our table	0
Mace	not in our table	0
Anise	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Apple Sweet Pickle