Skip to main content
Main

Spiced Pickles

A pickle recipe using mustard seeds, juniper berries, celery seed, green peppers, sugar, and alum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Spiced Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Let 200 small cucumbers stand in salt water for three days.

Make the pickle

  1. Boil the cucumbers for fifteen minutes in a gallon of vinegar with 1 ounce white mustard seed, 1 ounce black mustard seed, 1 ounce juniper berries, 1 ounce celery seed, 1 handful small green peppers, 2 pounds sugar, a few small onions, and a piece of alum the size of nutmeg.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers.

  3. Let the cucumbers stand a day.

  4. Repeat the boiling and pouring process three or four times.

Finish and seal

  1. On the last time, mix 1 pound of prepared mustard with the vinegar.

  2. Pour the mixture over the cucumbers.

  3. Seal the cucumbers in little jars.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

79Calories
1 gProtein
1 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Seednot 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 Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [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 + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Celery + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar.
Vinegar (in the method)
Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sour bite.
White and black mustard seed
Contributes sharp, pungent flavor that deepens as the seeds steep in the hot liquid.
Small cucumbers
Form the main body of the pickle and take on flavor from the brine and spiced vinegar.
Alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp through the repeated boiling and pouring.

The step that matters

Repeat the boiling and pouring process. Each hot pour draws flavor into the cucumbers and firms their texture; skipping repeats leaves the pickle weaker and softer inside.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

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

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipesCelery Cream SoupCelery Cream Soup15 recipes