Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓
Canada Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Slice green tomatoes, sprinkle with coarse sea salt, and let stand overnight.
In the morning, press and drain the tomatoes, then add ¼ as much onion that has been ground.
Peel and slice half as many hard apples as tomatoes.
Pickle and seal
Boil enough vinegar to cover the mixture, adding spices to taste with cloves, cinnamon, and a little red pepper.
Add 1 cup of sugar for every 3 pints of pickles.
Pour the boiling vinegar over the pickles and bring to a boil.
Set in a fireless cooker for 3 hours.
Drain off the vinegar, boil it again, and pour it over the pickles to seal.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 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
- Form the bulk of the pickle and, after salting, give up water to firm the texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the tomatoes so they drain and stay firmer in the vinegar.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavor.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
- Hard apples
- Add firm texture and natural fruit sweetness that softens the sour edge.
- Cloves
- Add warm aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Draining and re-boiling the vinegar. Salted tomatoes must be pressed and drained well, or excess water dilutes the vinegar and weakens the acidity that keeps the pickles safe and crisp. Re-boiling the vinegar before pouring it back helps heat the pickles and seal the jars.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, apple, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, apple, vinegar, clove, cinnamon, pepper, sugar. 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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