Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Sweet Pickle Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Slice cucumbers into half‑inch slices and pack them in one‑gallon jars.
Add coarse sea salt to the jars to create a brine and let stand for 24 hours.
Drain the brine and soak the cucumbers in cold water for a short time, then drain again.
Cook the cucumbers
In a pot, combine 1 quart vinegar and ½ cup sugar, then cook the cucumbers until tender.
Drain the liquid and save it for later use.
Make the syrup and pack
Make a syrup by boiling 1 pint vinegar, 1 pint sugar, ½ teaspoon whole cloves, ½ teaspoon whole allspice, and 1 teaspoon cassia buds.
Pour the boiling syrup over the pickles and let stand for 24 hours.
Drain the syrup, bring it to a boil, and pour it over the pickles again for another 24 hours.
Combine everything and boil together, then dip pickles out and place them in jars.
Boil the syrup for 10 minutes, then pour it over the pickles.
Seal
Once cooled, cover with paraffin before sealing.
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.
-
Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Clove + cassiatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together194 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Allspice + cassiatop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together41 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cucumber + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together501 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- The main vegetable; salt draws out moisture, firming the slices before cooking.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers to form a brine and keep them firm.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that defines the pickle and helps preserve it.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Whole cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the syrup.
- Cassia buds
- Adds a sweet, spicy aroma to the syrup.
The step that matters
Cook the cucumbers until tender. Heat softens the cucumber's cell walls. Cooking too long turns the slices mushy, while stopping too early leaves them firm and raw in the center.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, cassia):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Cucumberthe original
- Horseradishfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, cassia. 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.
More sweet pickles recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.