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Watermel Pickles

Pickled watermelon rind and fruit in a sweet and sour syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Watermel Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the rind

  1. Cut the pared rind into thick slices and place in a large stone jar.

  2. Cover with boiling water mixed with 1 ounce of powdered alum.

  3. Let it stand for several hours on the back of the stove.

  4. Remove the rind and place it in cold water until cool.

Cook the rind

  1. Boil the rind in syrup for 30 minutes or until tender.

Make the syrup

  1. To make the syrup, combine 4 pounds of brown sugar and 3 pints of vinegar in a pot.

  2. Tie the mixed whole spices in a bag and add to the pot.

  3. Boil the mixture, skim well, and then add the watermelon fruit.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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 main pickled body, becoming tender and translucent as it cooks in syrup.
Powdered alum
Firms the rind's texture so it holds its shape during long simmering.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and, with the vinegar, makes the thick syrup that preserves the rind.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the pickle.
Mixed whole spices
Infuse the syrup with warm aroma from cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

The step that matters

Boil the rind until tender. Heat slowly softens the rind's cell walls and pectin. Too short leaves it tough and fibrous, while too long turns it mushy and collapses the slices.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Cardamomfits less well

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