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 ↓
Pickle Lilly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the green tomatoes, onions and green peppers, chopped fine, in a jar with alternate layers of salt and let stand overnight.
In the morning, drain.
Cook and season
Cook in water until tender.
Drain again.
Add 1 quart vinegar, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves.
Make the uncooked piccalilli
For the Piccalilli (without cooking): mix together the chopped tomatoes, onions and peppers with 1 teacup of salt and let stand two days.
Drain, then add white mustard seed, cover with cold vinegar and put in a stone jar.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp ground (2.6g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cinnamon + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,581 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green tomatoes
- Forms the bulk of the pickle and, once salted and drained, keeps a firmer texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that preserves the vegetables and balances the sweetness.
- Onions
- Contributes savoury depth and body to the pickle.
- Green peppers
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly bitter edge.
- Mustard
- Adds pungent heat that gives the pickle its characteristic sharp flavour.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aromatic spice that rounds out the vinegar's sharpness.
The step that matters
Salting and draining the vegetables. Salt draws water out of the chopped vegetables by osmosis. Draining well afterwards keeps the pickle firm and stops excess liquid from diluting the vinegar.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard. 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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