Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓
Ripe Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Pare the cucumbers and scrape out the seeds. Cut them lengthwise into 1-inch strips.
Soak the strips in a mixture of vinegar and water overnight.
Simmer and pickle
Place the cucumbers in a kettle and cover with vinegar.
For each quart of vinegar, add ¾ cup of sugar, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and salt.
Boil for about 20 minutes until a fork passes easily through the cucumbers.
Let cool, then transfer to a jar.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Cucumber + cinnamontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together874 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Cucumber + clovetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,319 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Form the body of the pickle and soften as they simmer in the spiced vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that gives the pickles their sour, tangy flavor and helps preserve them.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar, giving a rounder, sweeter taste.
- Whole cloves
- Add warm, pungent aroma to the brine.
- Cinnamon stick
- Adds sweet, woody aroma that flavors the brine.
The step that matters
Boil until a fork passes easily, and no longer. Heat softens the cucumber's cell walls. Boiled too briefly, the cucumbers stay firm and the brine does not fully penetrate. Boiled too long, they collapse into mush.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper. 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.
More cucumber pickles recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.