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 ↓
Pickled Water Melon Rinds
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rinds
Peel the green skin from the watermelon rinds.
Scrape off all the red pulp until the rind is firm and hard.
Cut the rinds into pieces about three inches long.
Lay the rind pieces in a weak brine made by adding 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water.
Soak the rinds in the brine for twelve hours.
Remove the rinds from the brine and rinse them off.
Weigh the rinds.
Add ½ pound of sugar for every pound of rinds.
Add enough vinegar to cover the rinds.
Stick a clove in every piece of rind.
Add 1 ounce of stick cinnamon and ½ ounce of cassia buds for every seven pounds of rinds.
Cook and pack
Combine the vinegar and sugar in a porcelain kettle.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Add the watermelon rinds to the boiling mixture.
Cook the rinds slowly until they are tender and perfectly clear.
Test the rinds with a broom splint.
Place the rinds in a stone pot.
Pour the hot vinegar over the rinds.
Add the cinnamon and cassia buds to the pot.
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.
-
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Cinnamon + cassiatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together116 recipes
Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
-
Clove + cassiatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together194 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Watermelon rinds
- Provide the main body of the pickle; cooking softens them until tender and clear.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw out moisture, giving the rinds their syrupy texture.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the rinds and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
- Sea salt
- Brine softens and firms the rinds before cooking.
The step that matters
Cook the rinds slowly until tender and clear. Rushing with high heat can break the rinds apart before they turn clear and tender. Slow simmering lets the rind cells soften evenly while the sugar syrup penetrates, so the pieces hold their shape.
Swap the cassia
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, clove, cinnamon):
- Allspicefits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Cassiathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.