Name: Water-melon Sweet Pickle
Ingredients: 10 pounds water-melon rind; 1 quart vinegar; 2 pounds sugar; 1 ounce cinnamon

Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Water-melon Sweet Pickle

Ingredients

10 pounds water-melon rind
1 quart vinegar
2 pounds sugar
1 ounce cinnamon

Directions

Prepare the rind

Remove the green part from the watermelon rind and cut it into strips or desired shapes.
Place the rind in a porcelain kettle, cover with water, bring to a boil, then drain in a colander.
Transfer the rind to a stone jar.

Make the syrup and pickle

In a separate pot, boil the vinegar, sugar, and cinnamon together.
Pour the hot mixture over the rind in the jar.
Repeat this process for three mornings.
Seal the jar and store until ready to use.

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.

Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Melon + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together241 recipes

Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).
Melon + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together416 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + cinnamontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,187 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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 rind: Forms the firm, crisp pickle that absorbs the flavored syrup.
Vinegar: Provides the sharp acidity that preserves and flavors the pickle.
Sugar: Sweetens the pickle and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cinnamon: Adds warm, spicy aroma to the syrup.