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Limes, to Preserve

A method for preserving limes in vinegar with salt, mustard seed, ginger, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lime and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,621 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Limes, to Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the limes

  1. Make 3-4 slight cuts in the rind of each lime.

  2. Rub the limes with salt.

  3. Place the limes in a warm spot, turning occasionally for 5 days until softened.

Pickle

  1. Boil enough vinegar to cover the limes with mustard seed, ginger, and whole pepper.

  2. Place the softened limes in a jar.

  3. Pour the boiling vinegar over the limes.

  4. Let the jar sit for 24 hours.

  5. Cover the jar and store in a cool, dry place.

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. Lime + gingertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,621 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,491 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lime + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Limes
Provide the main flavor and the rind that softens during preserving.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the limes and helps soften the rind while they cure.
Vinegar
Covers the limes and acts as the preserving liquid that keeps them stable in the jar.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent, sharp aroma to the pickling liquid.
Ginger
Adds warm, aromatic flavor to the vinegar.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling vinegar over the limes. Vinegar must cover the limes completely so no part is exposed to air, which could allow spoilage. Boiling the vinegar helps drive off air and carry flavor into the fruit.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lime, vinegar, mustard, pepper. 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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