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Pickled Grapes

Grapes preserved in a sweet vinegar solution with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 Grapes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pack the grapes closely in a jar, adding grape leaves between layers if available.

  2. In a pot, combine vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cassia, and cloves.

  3. Boil the mixture well, then let it cool.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the cooled mixture over the packed grapes in the jar.

  2. Seal the jar and store it away.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + cassiatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  3. Cassia + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together194 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Cinnamon + grapetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the grapes and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
White sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and adds sweetness to the pickling liquid.
Cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma to the pickling liquid.
Cloves
Adds a pungent, warm aroma to the pickling liquid.
Grapes
The main ingredient, which softens slightly and absorbs the flavour of the spiced vinegar brine.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture well, then let it cool. Boiling the vinegar and sugar dissolves the sugar and brings the spices' flavour into the liquid. Pouring the mixture over the grapes while it is still hot would soften them and cook them, so it must cool first.

Swap the grape

The recipe marks grape as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cassia, clove):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cassia, clove. 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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