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Dessert

Green Tomato Mincemeat

A sweet and spiced mincemeat made with green tomatoes, sugar, citron, raisins, grape juice, lemon juice, cloves, spices, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Scald the green tomatoes and let them stand until cold.

  2. Gently press out the water and scald again.

  3. Drain off the water without squeezing the tomatoes.

Cook and seal

  1. Add sugar, citron, and raisins, then boil until tender.

  2. Stir in grape juice, lemon juice, cloves, spices, and nutmeg.

  3. Put the mixture in jars and seal.

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. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Tomato + grapetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the mincemeat and give it body as they soften when boiled.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps preserve it by drawing out moisture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness as they plump during boiling.
Citron
Adds candied fruit texture and a bright, slightly bitter sweetness.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and supports preservation.

The step that matters

Drain without squeezing the tomatoes. Squeezing forces out the tomato's juice and can break the pieces apart, leaving the filling mushy and watery. Gentle draining keeps the tomato pieces intact while removing excess liquid, so the mixture thickens properly as it boils with the sugar.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, raisin, grape, lemon, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, grape, lemon, clove, 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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