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To Pickle Lemons, and Limes

A method for pickling lemons and limes in vinegar with spices and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

To Pickle Lemons, and Limes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lemons

  1. Wash eight lemons very clean.

  2. Make four deep incisions in each lemon from stalk to blossom end, without cutting through.

  3. Stuff lemons with as much salt as they will contain.

  4. Place lemons in a deep dish and put in a sunny window or warm place for a week or ten days, turning and basting with their own liquor often.

  5. Rub lemons with good pale turmeric.

Make the pickle

  1. Put lemons with their juice into a stone jar with a small head of garlic (cloves peeled) and a dozen small onions with twice as many cloves.

  2. Boil two quarts of white wine vinegar, half a pound ginger slightly bruised, two ounces whole black pepper, and half a pound mustard-seed.

  3. Take the boiling mixture from the fire and pour it directly over the lemons.

  4. Cover the jar with a plate and let it remain until the following day.

  5. Add half a dozen capsicums (or a few chilies) to the pickle.

  6. Tie a skin and a fold of thick paper over the jar.

Pickle the limes

  1. Make slight incisions in lime rinds.

  2. Let limes soften for four or five days.

  3. Add two ounces salt for half a dozen limes.

  4. Put limes with their juice into jar before vinegar is poured.

  5. Mix vinegar with spices and mustard-seed, boil, then pour over limes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

30Calories
1 gProtein
0 gFat
7 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemons
Supply sour juice and peel that softens and flavours the pickle as it sits.
White wine vinegar
Provides sharp acidity that preserves the fruit and gives the pickle its tang.
Ginger
Adds warm, fresh aroma and a gentle spiciness to the pickle.
Mustard-seed
Adds a sharp, pungent bite that cuts through the sour fruit.
Garlic
Adds savoury aroma that deepens as the pickle matures.

The step that matters

Pouring the boiling mixture over the lemons. The hot vinegar softens the peel and carries the acid and spices into the fruit quickly. Letting it cool first would weaken that penetration, so it should go over the lemons straight from the fire.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, pepper, garlic, mustard, lemon):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, pepper, garlic, mustard, lemon. 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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