Name: To Pickle Horseradish
Ingredients: horseradish; vinegar; sugar

Why it works: Horseradish and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Pickle Horseradish

Ingredients

horseradish
vinegar
sugar

Directions

Wash and peel the horseradish.
Grate the horseradish.
Add enough vinegar to achieve a proper consistency.
Add sugar to taste.

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.

Horseradish + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Horseradish + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).