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To Pickle Walnuts Black

A method for pickling walnuts in vinegar with spices to produce blackened walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Walnuts Black

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnuts

  1. Gather walnuts while young and soft, so they can be easily pinched, and when the sun is upon them.

  2. Rub them with a coarse flannel or tow cloth to remove the fur from the outside.

  3. Mix salt and water strong enough to bear an egg, and let them lie in it nine days, changing it every two days, and stirring them frequently.

  4. Take them out, drain them, spread them on large dishes, and expose them to the air about ten minutes, which will cause them to blacken sooner.

  5. Scald them in boiling water, but do not let them lie in it, then rub them with a coarse woollen cloth, and pierce each through in several places with a large needle, so the pickle may penetrate them thoroughly.

Make the pickle

  1. Put them into stone jars, and prepare the spice and vinegar.

  2. To a hundred walnuts allow a gallon of vinegar, an ounce of cloves, an ounce of allspice, an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of mace, and half an ounce of nutmeg.

  3. Boil the spice in the vinegar for five or six minutes; then strain the vinegar, and pour it boiling hot over the walnuts.

  4. Tie up in a thin muslin rag a tea-cupful of mustard seed and a large table-spoonful of scraped horseradish, and put it into the jars with the walnuts.

Seal the jars

  1. Cover them closely with corks and leathers.

Alternative method

  1. Another way of pickling walnuts black is, after preparing them as above, to put them into jars with the spices pounded and strewed among them, and then to pour over them strong cold vinegar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

33Calories
0 gProtein
1 gFat
6 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
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 Eliza Leslie. 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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Its acidity preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Cloves
Add a warm, pungent aroma that flavours the pickling vinegar.
Allspice
Adds a warm, mixed-spice aroma and flavour to the pickle.
Black pepper
Adds sharp heat and aroma that carry through the pickle.
Mace
Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the spiced vinegar.
Nutmeg
Adds a sweet, warm aroma to the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Scalding the walnuts. Scald them only briefly and do not leave them in the boiling water. Prolonged heat softens the nut and breaks down its texture, while brief scalding loosens the outer skin so it can be rubbed off and the pickle can penetrate.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, clove, allspice, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, clove, allspice, pepper, nutmeg. 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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