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Melon Pickle

A pickled cantaloupe prepared with vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Melon Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the melon

  1. Peel and slice the cantaloupes.

  2. Drop the slices into vinegar.

  3. Let them stand for 12 hours.

Cook the pickle

  1. In a pot, combine 1 gallon of vinegar, 3 pounds of sugar, and 1 cup of mixed cloves, spice, and cinnamon.

  2. Boil the mixture.

  3. Add the melon slices.

  4. Let them cook for 10 minutes.

  5. Pour the mixture into a jar.

  6. Boil the vinegar again.

  7. Pour it over the melon while hot.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. 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

Cantaloupes (in the method)
Provide the fruit that becomes tender and absorbs the spiced, sweet vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mixed cloves, spice, and cinnamon
Supply the aromatic flavour that infuses the melon.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling syrup over the melon while hot. The melon must be heated in the hot, acidic syrup so it softens and takes up flavour evenly. Letting the liquid cool before pouring would slow absorption and leave the pickle less evenly flavoured.

Swap the clove

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

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

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