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Indian Pickle, to Keep Ten Years

A preserved ginger, garlic, mustard, and pepper pickle that can be stored for up to ten years.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,053 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Indian Pickle, to Keep Ten Years

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the ginger and garlic by peeling and chopping them.

  2. Combine ginger, garlic, ground mustard, mustard seed, and dry peppers in a large bowl.

  3. Mix well and let sit for two weeks to develop flavors.

Store and seal

  1. Store in glass bottles or unglazed jars, filling them three-quarters full with the mixture.

  2. Cover with vinegar and seal tightly.

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. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

  3. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

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

  4. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ginger root
Provides the sharp, aromatic bite that defines the pickle's flavor.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savory depth as the flavors develop.
Ground mustard
Contributes sharp heat and pungency to the mixture.
Mustard seed
Adds texture and a sharp, slightly bitter flavor when left whole.
Dry peppers
Adds heat that deepens over the resting period.

The step that matters

Sealing with vinegar. The vinegar must fully cover the mixture and the jars must be sealed tightly. Exposure to air allows spoilage microbes and mold to grow, while a covered, acidic environment helps preserve the pickle during the long rest.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, mustard, pepper):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, mustard, pepper. 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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