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Tomatoes, German

A sweet and spiced tomato preserve made with sugar, allspice, cloves, mace, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tomatoes, German

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomatoes

  1. Combine the tomatoes and brown sugar in a glass or porcelain-lined vessel.

  2. Stew the mixture until the syrup thickens.

  3. Add the ground allspice, cloves, and mace, and stew for a few more minutes.

  4. Remove the tomatoes and stir in the vinegar.

Store and rest

  1. Pour the mixture into a jar and cover tightly once cooled.

  2. Let it sit for 2 to 3 weeks before using.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Tomato + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Provide the main body and bulk of the preserve as they break down while stewing.
Brown sugar
Thickens the syrup and adds sweetness that balances the vinegar's sharpness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the mixture.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavor to the sweet syrup.
Cloves
Adds pungent, warm aroma that deepens the spiced flavor.

The step that matters

Stewing until the syrup thickens. Cooking long enough lets the sugar concentrate and the syrup thicken, while stopping too early leaves a thin liquid that may not keep well. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the vessel.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

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