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Dessert

Pickled Apples

Pickled apples are apples preserved in a sweet vinegar syrup with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickled Apples

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a large pot, combine the apples, vinegar, and sugar.

  2. Clarify the syrup by boiling it briefly.

  3. Add cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and ginger to the syrup.

Cook and pickle

  1. Cook the apples in the syrup until tender but not mushy.

  2. Remove the apples and place them in a stone jar.

  3. Boil the syrup until thick.

  4. Pour the thick syrup over the apples.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the main body and texture of the pickle, softening while staying firm when cooked properly.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the fruit and gives the pickling liquid its sharp tang.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and balances the acidity of the vinegar, and thickens the syrup as it boils down.
Ginger root
Adds a warm, pungent aroma that flavours the syrup and penetrates the apples.

The step that matters

Cook the apples until tender but not mushy. Apples keep their shape only if they are cooked gently and briefly; overcooking breaks down the pectin and cell walls, leaving a soft, mushy texture.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Quincefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger. 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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