Why it works: Mint and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,376 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mint Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse
Fill a glass jar loosely with clean mint leaves.
Pour enough vinegar into the jar to fill it completely.
Cork the jar tightly and let it stand for three weeks.
Strain and store
After three weeks, pour the vinegar into another bottle for storage.
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.
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Mint + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,376 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
- Fresh mint leaves
- Supply the aroma and minty flavour that the vinegar draws out over time.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the solvent that extracts the mint's aromatic compounds and adds sharp acidity.
The step that matters
Fill the jar completely with vinegar and cork it tightly. Fully submerging the leaves keeps them in contact with the liquid so flavour extracts evenly, and an airtight seal limits air exposure while the mint steeps for three weeks.
“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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