Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Ripe Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Pare and seed cucumbers; cut into eighths if large.
Soak cucumbers overnight in a mixture of lemon juice and water.
Drain cucumbers in the morning, add them to hot syrup, and boil until soft.
Make the syrup and jar
Skim cucumbers out of the syrup and place them in jars that are standing in hot water. Keep the jars hot.
Boil syrup made of 3 cups brown sugar, 3 cups lemon juice, 1 cup water, and ½–1 tablespoon salt for 10–15 minutes, then pour over the fruit and seal the jars.
Let the jars stand three or four weeks before using.
Optional flavorings
Optionally flavor with celery salt or seed, ground coriander or anise seed, and raisins to taste; use anise seed sparingly. The cucumbers may be steamed tender, put into jars, and the reduced syrup poured over.
Watermelon rind may be prepared the same.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Cucumbers (in the method)
- Provide the main bulk and firm-tender texture of the pickles.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the syrup that preserves and flavors the cucumbers.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps keep the pickles preserved.
The step that matters
Boiling the cucumbers until soft. Boiling in hot syrup softens the cucumber flesh and lets it absorb sweetness and acid. Cooking too briefly leaves them firm and under-flavored, while overcooking turns them mushy.
“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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