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 ↓
Water Melon Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rind
Cut the watermelon into large slices.
Remove the soft center and pink flesh from the slices.
Pare the green rind from the firm white part.
Cut the rind into desired shapes.
Place the rind in a preserving kettle.
Cover the rind with strong alum water.
Boil until tender enough to run a straw through.
Drain the rind.
Soak the rind in cold water overnight.
In the morning, squeeze out all the water from each slice.
Make the syrup and pickle
Place the slices in a jar.
Make a syrup by combining vinegar, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon.
Pour the hot syrup over the watermelon slices.
Repeat pouring the syrup over the pickles for six mornings.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,386 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + cinnamontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Watermelon rind
- Forms the crisp-tender pickle body that absorbs the spiced syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pickle and, in quantity, helps preserve it.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve it.
- Cloves
- Provides warm, aromatic spice flavor carried into the syrup.
- Cinnamon
- Provides sweet, woody aroma and flavor to the syrup.
The step that matters
Boiling the rind in alum water until tender. Boiling until a straw passes through softens the rind enough to take up syrup, but overcooking turns it mushy. Alum helps the rind stay firm during boiling.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon):
- Allspicefits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- 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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