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Pickled Lemon

Pickled elder shoots preserved in vinegar, pepper, ginger, mace, and pimento.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Pickled Lemon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shoots

  1. Cut the large young shoots of elder and peel off the outer skin.

  2. Soak the shoots in strong saltwater overnight.

  3. Dry the shoots with a cloth.

Pickle

  1. Boil the vinegar with white pepper, sliced ginger, mace, and pimento.

  2. Pour the boiling mixture over the elder shoots in a stone jar.

  3. Seal the jar.

  4. Place the jar by the fire for two hours, turning it often to keep it hot.

  5. If the mixture is not green when cold, strain and pour boiling hot again, keeping it hot as before.

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. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  2. Ginger + macetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. White pepper + gingertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together388 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,126 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Elder shoots
Form the main body of the pickle, taking up the vinegar flavour and softening as they steep.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the shoots and gives the pickle its sharp taste.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the shoots during soaking, firming them and seasoning them.
White pepper
Adds warm, sharp spice that flavours the pickling liquid.
Ginger
Adds aromatic, pungent flavour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Keeping the pickling liquid hot. Vinegar that cools while the shoots steep cannot penetrate and flavour them well, and the shoots may not keep their green colour. Reheating and pouring it back boiling restores the heat needed for the pickle to work.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, white pepper, mace. 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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