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Sweet Tomato Pickles

Pickled tomatoes sweetened with sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Sweet Tomato Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the green tomatoes

  1. Pick green tomatoes and slice them thick.

  2. Boil in water and vinegar with a little salt until easily pierced with a fork.

  3. Drain through a sieve.

Make the spiced vinegar

  1. Scald together 1 quart vinegar, 3 pounds sugar, 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cloves, and 1 tablespoon allspice.

  2. Put the spices into a bag and boil in the vinegar.

Pack and pour

  1. Place in a jar a layer of the sliced tomatoes.

  2. Add a thin layer of sliced onions and alternate until all are placed.

  3. Pour over the spiced vinegar while it is boiling hot, throwing in 2 tablespoons whole mustard seed.

  4. Cover lightly.

Make the ripe tomato pickle

  1. Pare and weigh ripe tomatoes and put them into jars, covering them with vinegar.

  2. After standing three days, pour off the vinegar and add 5 pounds coffee sugar to every 7 parts of fruit.

  3. Spice to taste and pour over the tomatoes, then cook slowly all day on the back of the stove.

  4. Use cinnamon, mace, and a little cloves, or omit them as preferred.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

73Calories
0 gProtein
1 gFat
18 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 10 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Fruitnot in our table0
Macenot 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 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

Green tomatoes (in the method)
Provide the bulk of the pickle; boiling softens them so they can absorb the spiced vinegar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and helps preserve the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the fruit and gives the pickle its tang.
Onions (in the method)
Add sharp, savoury flavour that layers with the sweet spiced vinegar.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent flavour and a slight bite to the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Pour the spiced vinegar while it is boiling hot. Hot vinegar softens the sliced fruit and drives spice flavour into it, while also helping the jar seal and keep. Pouring cool liquid would leave the pickle less flavourful and less well preserved.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, mustard, vinegar, horse):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, mustard, vinegar, horse. 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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