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Pickled Walnuts

Pickled walnuts preserved in a brine and vinegar mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Walnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the walnuts

  1. Mix water and salt to form a brine.

  2. Remove any scum that rises.

  3. Add the walnuts to the brine.

  4. Stir the walnuts twice a day.

  5. Change the brine every third day for 10 to 12 days.

  6. Spread the walnuts on dishes.

  7. Let them air dry until they turn black.

Pickle and jar

  1. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, black pepper, ginger, mace (if using), mustard seed, and onions.

  2. Boil the mixture for about 5 minutes.

  3. Place the walnuts in jars.

  4. Remove the onions.

  5. Pour the boiling vinegar over the walnuts.

  6. Once cooled, seal the jars tightly.

  7. Ensure the walnuts are covered with vinegar, adding more boiled vinegar as needed.

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. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Walnut + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together849 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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

Walnuts
Soft green walnuts are the base; brining and air drying turn them dark and firm.
Vinegar
Acidity preserves the walnuts and carries the sharp, pickled flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Salt draws out moisture and flavour from the walnuts during the brine.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, sharp aroma and bite to the pickling liquor.
Black pepper
Adds warm, sharp spice that flavours the pickling vinegar.
Onions
Lend savoury sweetness and aroma to the spiced vinegar, then are removed.

The step that matters

Air drying the walnuts until they turn black. Walnuts must be fully dried and darkened before jarring; leftover moisture can dilute the vinegar and let spoilage start inside the jar.

Swap the mace

The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, vinegar, pepper, ginger, mustard, onion):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, vinegar, pepper, ginger, mustard, onion. 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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