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To Pickle Green Peppers

A method for pickling young bell peppers in salted water and vinegar with alum.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Pickle Green Peppers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gather young bell peppers and slit one side to remove the core without damaging the shell.

Brine and pickle

  1. Place the peppers in boiling salted water, changing the water daily for three weeks.

  2. Keep the peppers covered in a warm place and stir them several times a day.

  3. When they turn a fine green, transfer them to a jar.

  4. Pour cold vinegar over the peppers and add a small piece of alum.

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. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Bell peppers
Provide the main body and shell that soften and turn green during the pickling.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the peppers and helps preserve them during the long soak.
Cold vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the peppers and gives the finished pickle its sharp flavour.
A small piece of alum
Helps the peppers keep a firm, crisp texture in the finished pickle.

The step that matters

Slit the peppers without damaging the shell. A torn or broken shell lets air and spoilage microbes reach the flesh during the long soak, which can cause rot and soft spots. Keeping the shell intact protects the pepper throughout the pickling.

“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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