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Cucumber Pickle

A preserved cucumber recipe using vinegar, spices, and alum, boiled and jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Select cucumbers slightly larger than a little finger.

  2. Place cucumbers in brine for 24 hours; taste, and if not salty enough, let them remain 12 hours longer.

  3. Remove cucumbers from brine and rinse them in clear, cold water.

  4. Place the cucumbers in a pan or kettle lined with grape leaves, and fill with water containing a large kitchen spoonful of powdered alum.

  5. Allow the cucumbers to stand in the alum water until noon (three to four hours).

Pack and pickle

  1. Pack the cucumbers in a gallon jar with alternate layers of the listed spices.

  2. Prepare a half gallon of sweetened white wine vinegar by dissolving granulated sugar (about 1 pint) and heating to boiling.

  3. Pour the hot sweetened vinegar over the cucumbers in the jar.

  4. Tie the jar lid while hot, and let stand several days.

  5. Uncover the jar to check if the pickles are well submerged in vinegar; if not, add a little more sweetened vinegar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

31Calories
1 gProtein
1 gFat
6 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Seednot in our table0
Horseradishnot 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 Colville, Jessie Henderson. [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.

  1. Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Horseradish + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together719 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers (in the method)
Form the pickles themselves; brining firms and seasons them for the vinegar to penetrate.
White wine vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickles their tang.
Granulated sugar (in the method)
Balances the vinegar's sourness with sweetness.
Powdered alum (in the method)
Helps keep the cucumbers firm and crisp during soaking.

The step that matters

Checking that the pickles stay submerged. Cucumbers exposed above the vinegar can spoil and soften, so the vinegar level must cover them fully; topping up with sweetened vinegar keeps them protected.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, pepper, mustard, celery, horseradish, garlic):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, pepper, mustard, celery, horseradish, garlic. 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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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