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Stuffed Sweet Pickles

Cucumbers stuffed with lemon cubes, raisins, and spices, then preserved in a sweet vinegar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stuffed Sweet Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Soak medium-sized cucumbers in salt water for 9 days, then in fresh water for 24 hours. Open them lengthwise and remove seeds. Place them in a preserving pan.

  2. Layer the cucumbers with alternating layers of grape leaves, sprinkling a teaspoonful of alum over each layer. Cover with equal parts vinegar and water and scald until green.

Fill and pack

  1. Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons and cut the lemons into small cubes, rind and all. Fill the cucumbers with the lemon cubes and raisins.

  2. Tie or sew the cucumbers together, then place them in a jar. Add 1 ounce of cloves and 1 ounce of cinnamon bark broken into small pieces.

Make the syrup and pickle

  1. Make a syrup of 1 pint of sugar to 1 pint of vinegar. Heat the syrup and pour it over the pickles every morning for 9 days, adding enough each day to thoroughly cover the pickles.

  2. Use 6 lemons and 2 pounds of raisins for every 25 cucumbers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

155Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
40 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cinnamon + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together874 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the pickle body, which softens and absorbs the spiced syrup over the days of soaking.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, with the vinegar, forms the syrup that preserves and flavours the pickles.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the pickles and sharpens the sweetness of the syrup.
Raisins
Add moisture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Lemons
Add acidity and aroma; the rind contributes bitter oils along with the juice.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup every morning for 9 days. The pickles must stay fully submerged so the syrup can penetrate and preserve them evenly. Adding enough syrup each day to cover them, rather than topping up lightly, keeps any exposed cucumber from spoiling.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, vinegar, raisin, cucumber, clove):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, sugar, vinegar, raisin, cucumber, clove. 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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