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Watermel Pickles

A pickled preserve made from watermelon rind, boiled in alum water, then simmered in a sugar‑vinegar‑spice syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓

Watermel Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rind

  1. Prepare the watermelon rind and pour boiling weak alum water over it to cover.

  2. Let it stand for 24 hours.

  3. Wash the rind and boil it in clear water until tender.

Make the pickles

  1. Make a syrup with equal parts sugar and vinegar, adding cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

  2. Boil the watermelon rind in the syrup until clear, then seal in jars.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 pickle itself, becoming tender and translucent as it cooks in the syrup.
Weak alum water
Firms the rind's texture so it stays crisp rather than turning mushy during cooking.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and, with the vinegar, helps preserve the pickle.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the pickle.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma and flavour to the syrup.

The step that matters

Boil the rind in the syrup until clear. Boiling too briefly leaves the rind opaque and under-flavoured, while overcooking softens it excessively. The rind should turn translucent as sugar and spices penetrate it.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

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