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To Pickle Tomatoes

A method for pickling green tomatoes using salt, water, vinegar, pepper, and mustard seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Scald

  1. Combine salt and water in a vessel.

  2. Add the tomatoes.

  3. Cover the vessel.

  4. Heat until the water boils.

  5. Remove from heat.

Prepare

  1. Transfer tomatoes to a basin of cold water.

  2. Add enough cold vinegar to cover the tomatoes.

  3. Add whole pepper and mustard seed.

  4. Cut each tomato in half.

  5. Remove the seeds.

  6. Wipe the insides dry with a cloth.

Jar and seal

  1. Place the tomatoes in glass jars.

  2. Cover with vinegar.

  3. Seal jars tightly with corks or close-fitting tin covers.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 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

Round smooth green tomatoes
Provide the main body of the pickle, firming slightly after brief heating and taking up the brine.
Cold vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve it.
Salt
Seasons the brine and draws some water from the tomatoes, firming their texture.
Mustard seed
Adds a warm, pungent aroma that flavours the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Heat only until the water boils. Brief heating loosens the skins and firms the flesh. Heating too long softens the tomatoes, so they can break down in the jar.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

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