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Green Tomato Pickle

A pickled green tomato relish made with onions, peppers, spices, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Green Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Chop the green tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.

  2. In a large pot, combine all ingredients: tomatoes, onions, peppers, cinnamon, ground mustard, mustard seed, cloves, nutmeg, turmeric, black pepper, sugar, and vinegar.

Cook and jar

  1. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

  2. Pour the hot pickle into sterilized jars and seal tightly.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + turmerictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,197 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the bulk of the pickle and firm pieces that hold their shape during simmering.
Onions
Add savory depth and moisture that softens as the pickle simmers.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its tang.
Mustard seed
Contributes sharp, pungent flavor that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Simmering the pickle. Simmering long enough lets the vinegar and spices blend and the tomatoes soften, while the acid helps keep the jarred pickle safe. Too short a simmer leaves the vegetables firm and the flavors harsh.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, cinnamon, mustard, clove, nutmeg, turmeric):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, cinnamon, mustard, clove, nutmeg, turmeric. 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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