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 ↓
Green Tomato Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Place the tomatoes in a large pan and cover with water.
Add the salt and heat until scalding to remove the green poison and soften the tomatoes.
Skim the tomatoes onto a cloth to drain for several hours or overnight.
Pack and pickle
Layer the tomatoes in stone jars with whole spices, using 1 ounce of each spice per gallon of tomatoes. Top with a little ground cinnamon.
Boil the vinegar and brown sugar together for 30 minutes, then pour it boiling hot over the tomatoes.
Press down with a plate to keep the tomatoes submerged, seal tightly, and let sit for a week before using.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green tomatoes
- Provide the firm base that softens and absorbs the pickling syrup and spices.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that preserves the tomatoes and balances the sweetness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the syrup, balancing the vinegar's sharpness.
- Cinnamon
- Contributes warm aroma and flavour that infuses the tomatoes during the week of sitting.
- Cloves
- Adds a pungent, warm aroma that infuses the tomatoes as they pickle.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour that infuses into the pickling liquid and tomatoes.
The step that matters
Scalding the tomatoes with salt. Heating the tomatoes until scalding softens their texture so they can absorb the syrup. Overheating or boiling them can turn them mushy, so keep the heat just at scalding rather than a rolling boil.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, pepper):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, pepper. 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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