Name: Green Tomato Soy
Ingredients: 2 gallons green tomatoes, sliced; 12 onions, sliced; 2 quarts vinegar; 1 quart sugar; 2 tablespoons salt; 2 peppers; 1 tablespoon allspice; 1 tablespoon cloves

Why it works: Allspice and clove 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 ↓

Green Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

In a large pot, combine the sliced green tomatoes and onions.
Add the vinegar, sugar, salt, peppers, allspice, and cloves, then stir well to combine all ingredients.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour into sterilized jars and seal while hot.

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.

Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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

Green tomatoes: Provide the bulk of the pickle and its firm, tart texture once simmered.
Onions: Add sweetness and savory depth that balances the vinegar.
Vinegar: Acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and green tomatoes with sweetness.
Allspice: Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickle.
Cloves: Contributes strong warm aroma and spice flavor.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Mustardbetter flavor fit
Cucumberbetter flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, sugar, pepper, allspice, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.