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Watermel Pickles

Pickled watermelon rind in a sweet vinegar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Watermel Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rind

  1. Peel the watermelon rind and cut it into 1‑inch lengths.

  2. Cook the rind slowly in cold water until tender.

  3. Drain the rind.

Make the syrup and steep

  1. In a separate pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, and spices tied in a bag. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  2. Pour the boiling syrup over the prepared rind in a crock.

  3. Let the pickles sit for three days.

  4. Drain the rind.

Reheat and jar

  1. Bring the syrup to a boil again.

  2. Pour the boiling syrup back over the rind.

  3. Heat the syrup and rind to boiling point.

  4. Place the pickles in glass jars.

  5. Seal the jars.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Ginger + clovetop 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

Watermelon rind
Forms the firm, tender body of the pickle once cooked and soaked in syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the pickle and, at this concentration, helps preserve it and firm the rind.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the pickle its sharp flavour and helps preserve it.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet aroma to the spiced syrup.
Cloves
Adds a strong, warm aroma to the spiced syrup.

The step that matters

Cook the rind slowly in cold water until tender. Starting the rind in cold water and heating gradually lets it soften evenly through. Boiling it hard too early can leave the outside breaking down while the centre stays tough, so the rind must be tested for tenderness before it goes into the syrup.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Macethe original

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