Skip to main content
Main

Green Tomato Pickle

A pickled green tomato and onion relish seasoned with mustard, celery seed, brown sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Colville, Jessie Henderson. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Green Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Slice the tomatoes and onions; sprinkle well with salt and let stand overnight. In the morning pour cold water over them and wash all salt from them. Squeeze as dry as possible.

  2. Cover well with vinegar and boil until tender; then drain.

Make the pickle

  1. Add the drained tomatoes and onions to the same amount of fresh vinegar, two pounds of brown sugar, one-half pound of white mustard seed, one tablespoonful of celery seed, and one tablespoonful of powdered pickles—catsups—sauces.

  2. Add cloves and one teaspoonful of turmeric.

  3. Let boil for five minutes.

  4. Add a good sprinkling of cayenne pepper, a half tablespoonful of Coleman's mustard, and a half teaspoonful of turmeric to the tomatoes and onions.

  5. Pour the boiled mixture over the drained tomatoes, mix thoroughly, and let cool before packing away.

  6. Add a small bottle of salad oil to the cooled mixture; it makes the pickle delicious.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

148Calories
4 gProtein
1 gFat
33 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Seednot in our table0
Saucenot 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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the pickle; salting and squeezing removes water so they stay firm.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar.
Vinegar (in the method)
Acid that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavour.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent, mustardy flavour and a slight texture to the pickle.
Silver onions
Add savoury bulk and mild sharpness that softens during boiling.

The step that matters

Squeeze the salted vegetables as dry as possible. Excess water dilutes the vinegar and sugar syrup, so the pickle can taste watery and keep poorly. Thorough draining also helps the tomatoes and onions stay firm rather than turning mushy during boiling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, mustard, sugar, sauce, turmeric, tomato, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, mustard, sugar, sauce, turmeric, tomato, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes