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Nasturtium Pickles

Pickles made from green nasturtium seeds soaked, rinsed, and preserved in vinegar with mace, peppercorns, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Nasturtium Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the seeds

  1. Pick the green seeds after the flowers have dried.

  2. Soak the seeds in brine for 2 days.

  3. Rinse the seeds in fresh water.

Pickle and rest

  1. Pack the seeds in bottles.

  2. Cover the seeds with scalding vinegar seasoned with mace, white peppercorns, and a little sugar.

  3. Cork the bottles and let them sit for 4 weeks before using.

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. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes
  3. Mace + sugartop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,096 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Green nasturtium seeds
Provide the main pickled material, becoming firm and crisp after brining.
Brine
Draws out moisture and seasons the seeds before they are packed in vinegar.
Scalding vinegar
Acidity preserves the seeds and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
A little sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Cork the bottles and let them sit for 4 weeks before using. The seeds need time for the vinegar and spices to penetrate and mellow, so flavour develops slowly. Opening too early leaves the pickle harsh and underdeveloped, and loose corks let air in and spoil the brine.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar. 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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