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Cucumber Pickles

A method for preserving cucumbers in vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Wash cucumbers.

  2. Soak them in brine for 24 hours.

  3. Remove cucumbers.

  4. Wipe them dry.

Cure in vinegar

  1. Place them in a jar.

  2. Pour cold vinegar over the cucumbers.

  3. Let them sit for 6 weeks.

  4. Remove cucumbers from vinegar.

Pack and seal

  1. Layer them in the jar with mixed spices.

  2. Sprinkle 1 cup sugar on top of the cucumbers.

  3. Pour hot vinegar over the cucumbers. Ensure a little alum is dissolved in it.

  4. Press a plate over the pickles to keep them submerged in the vinegar.

  5. Seal the jar tightly.

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. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

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

  3. Cucumber + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,112 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the crisp body of the pickle, which firms and flavours during brining and curing.
Brine (saltwater solution)
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them before the vinegar stage.
Cold vinegar
Acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
1 cup sugar
Sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Hot vinegar
Acidity that completes the pickling liquid and preserves the pickles in the jar.
Mixed spices
Aroma and flavour that infuse into the cucumbers during curing.

The step that matters

Keep the pickles submerged in the vinegar. Cucumbers exposed to air can spoil and grow mould, and the acidic liquid only preserves and flavours the parts it covers. A plate pressing the pickles under the liquid keeps them protected throughout storage.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Cucumberthe original
  4. Beetrootfits less well

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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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