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Spanish Pickles

Pickled green tomatoes and onions with spices and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Spanish Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the green tomatoes and onions.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and let stand overnight.

  3. Strain off the juice.

Spice and layer

  1. Mix the dry ingredients: a pound of sugar, a fourth of a pound of whole white mustard seed, an ounce of ground black pepper, an ounce of cloves, an ounce of ginger, and an ounce of cinnamon.

  2. Layer tomatoes and onions in a porcelain kettle, sprinkle with the spice mixture, add more tomatoes, and repeat until all are used.

Cook and store

  1. Cover with vinegar and boil slowly for two hours.

  2. Pack in small jars and set in cellar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

93Calories
3 gProtein
1 gFat
21 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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
Form the bulk of the pickle and, once salted and drained, give a firm, tender texture.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and spices.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that flavors the pickle and helps keep it preserved.
Mustard
Contributes a sharp, pungent bite from the whole seeds.
Cloves
Add a warm, aromatic flavor that defines the spiced character of the pickle.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma that rounds out the spice mixture.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for two hours. A gentle simmer lets the vinegar and spices penetrate the tomatoes and onions evenly while the pieces soften without breaking down. A hard boil can scorch the bottom of the kettle and turn the pickle mushy, so keep the heat low and stir to prevent sticking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, mustard, pepper, clove, ginger, cinnamon, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, mustard, pepper, clove, ginger, cinnamon, vinegar. 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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