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Indian Relish

A sweet and spicy relish made with tomatoes, apples, onions, vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Indian Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, apples, and onions finely.

  2. In a large pot, combine the chopped ingredients and vinegar.

Cook

  1. Boil until tender.

  2. Add salt, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and red pepper.

  3. Boil down until thick.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the relish.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the bulk and moisture that cook down into the relish body.
Apples
Add tartness and pectin that help the relish thicken as it cooks.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma that build the relish's flavor base.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the relish and helps preserve it.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and sharpness of vinegar and tart apples with sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil down until thick. Long simmering evaporates water so the chopped fruit and vegetables reduce to a spreadable consistency. Stopping early leaves the relish thin and more likely to spoil in storage.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, apple, vinegar, sugar, ginger, 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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