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 ↓
Watermelon Rind Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rind
Boil the watermelon rind in enough water to cover it for 30 minutes.
Add 1 cup of coarse sea salt to the boiling water.
Remove the rinds and soak them in clear water for 15 minutes.
Drain the rinds.
Make the syrup
Place the rinds in a preserving kettle and cover them with vinegar, then measure the vinegar.
For each quart of vinegar, add 3 pounds of sugar and ½ cup each of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and raisins.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Add the rinds to the boiling mixture and boil for 15 minutes.
Pack and seal
Remove the rinds and place them into jars.
Add 2 more pounds of sugar for each quart of vinegar to the jars.
Boil for 30 minutes or longer until thick.
Pour the hot mixture over the fruit and seal the jars.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Watermelon rind
- Forms the main bulk of the pickle and becomes tender and translucent as it cooks in syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pickle and, as the syrup thickens, helps preserve the rind and give it body.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the pickled rind.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet aroma to the syrup and the rind.
- Cloves
- Adds a pungent, warm aroma that flavors the syrup and rind.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and extra sweetness to the finished pickle.
The step that matters
Boil until thick. As water evaporates, the sugar and vinegar concentrate and the syrup thickens, which helps it coat the rind and keep it preserved. Stopping too early leaves a thin, watery syrup that spoils more easily.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Quincefits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice. 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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