Why it works: Lemon and sugar 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 ↓
79 Pickle for Beets, String Beans and Carrots
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pickling liquid
Combine 2 parts lemon juice, 1 part water, 1-1¼ part sugar, and a trifle of salt or none in a saucepan.
Heat the mixture to boiling.
Pickle the vegetables
Pour the hot liquid over the vegetables.
Drain off the liquid.
Repeat the process twice.
For string beans, add a little celery salt or finely sliced celery if desired.
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.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar 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
- Lemon juice
- Provides the sour acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve the vegetables.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the lemon juice, adding sweetness to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot liquid over the vegetables. The hot liquid softens the vegetables and lets the acid and sugar penetrate them. Repeating the pour and drain helps the liquid flavour the vegetables more evenly.
“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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