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To Pickle Butternuts

A method for pickling large butternuts in a spice mixture and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Butternuts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the nuts

  1. Gather butternuts when the sun is hot and the shell is soft.

  2. Clean the nuts in a tub with lye, stirring with a hickory broom.

  3. Scald and rub off the outer skin.

  4. Soak the nuts in a strong saltwater solution for one week, changing the water every other day.

  5. Drain and wipe the nuts.

  6. Pierce each nut in several places with a large needle.

Spice and pack

  1. Pound the black pepper, ginger, cloves, mace, and nutmeg to a powder.

  2. Mix the powdered spices well with the mustard seed.

  3. Layer the nuts in jars.

  4. Sprinkle the powdered spices between each layer.

Pickle and seal

  1. Boil the cider vinegar for five minutes.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar over the nuts.

  3. Seal the jars tightly with corks and leather.

  4. The nuts can be eaten after two weeks.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Butternut + nutmegtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Butternuts
Are the main substance that is softened, soaked and pickled into the finished dish.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickled nuts.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, pungent warmth to the spice blend.
Ginger root
Adds aromatic, peppery warmth to the spice blend.
Cloves
Contribute strong aroma and warm spice flavour to the pickle.
Mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that complements the spices.

The step that matters

Soaking the nuts in saltwater. Soaking for the full week and changing the water regularly draws out moisture and bitterness, and a weak brine can leave the nuts harsh or spoil them before pickling.

Swap the butternut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, pepper, ginger, clove, mace, nutmeg):

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Butternutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, pepper, ginger, clove, mace, nutmeg. 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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