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Dessert

Citron Sweet Pickle

A sweet pickle made by boiling citron slices with alum, sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Citron Sweet Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the citron

  1. Cut and pare the citron, discarding the soft center.

  2. Boil the alum in the water.

  3. Pour the boiled alum over the citron.

  4. Let the citron stand for several hours on the back of the stove.

  5. Drain the citron and place it in cold water.

  6. Once cold, drain the citron again.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. Put the spices in a bag.

  2. Boil the spices with the vinegar and sugar.

  3. Skim the mixture well.

  4. Cook the citron for 30 minutes or until tender in a syrup made from the sugar, vinegar, and spices.

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. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Citron
Forms the main body of the pickle and provides the firm, chewy texture once cooked.
Alum
Firms the citron flesh so it holds its shape during long cooking.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the pickle and, with the vinegar, builds the thick syrup that preserves it.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sweetness and helps preserve the pickle.
Whole mixed spices
Infuse the syrup with aroma as the citron cooks in it.

The step that matters

Boiling the citron in alum water and then rinsing it. Alum firms the citron's pectin-rich flesh so it stays tender yet firm through the syrup cooking. Soaking it too briefly or skipping the cold rinse can leave residual alum, making it harsh, or leave the flesh soft and mushy.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Cardamomfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, allspice, 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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