Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Preserved Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Take one peck of green tomatoes.
Slice six fresh lemons without removing the skins, but taking out the seeds.
Make the preserve
Put the sliced lemons and green tomatoes into a quantity of six pounds of common white sugar.
Boil until transparent and the syrup thick.
Add ginger root if liked.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 7 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Fruit | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
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.
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Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Tomato + orangetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together689 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lemon + macetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,315 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 preserve, becoming tender and translucent as they cook in syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and, as it thickens into syrup, helps the fruit become transparent and hold its shape.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and aromatic peel oils that brighten the sweet syrup.
The step that matters
Boiling until the syrup is thick and the fruit transparent. Sugar must concentrate enough to preserve the fruit and set the syrup; stopping too early leaves it runny and spoil-prone, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, tomato, lemon, orange):
- Corianderfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, tomato, lemon, orange. 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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