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Indian Relish

A sweet and spicy relish made from 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 with the vinegar.

Cook

  1. Boil the mixture until tender.

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

  3. Continue boiling until the mixture thickens.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the relish for storage.

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 form the relish base.
Apples
Add tartness and pectin that help the relish thicken as it cooks.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and soften into the body of the relish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the relish its sharp flavor and aids preservation.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and, with long cooking, helps thicken the relish.

The step that matters

Continue boiling until the mixture thickens. Relish thickens only as liquid evaporates during long simmering. Stopping early leaves it thin and watery, and it may spoil sooner 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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