Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pickled Peaches
Ingredients
Directions
Ensure peaches are sound and not overripe.
Mix spring water with coarse sea salt and common salt until it can float an egg.
Submerge peaches in the saltwater and weigh them down with a thin board.
After three days, remove peaches and wipe them with a clean cloth.
Place peaches in a jar.
Combine white wine vinegar with mustard, garlic, sliced ginger, cloves, mace, and nutmeg.
Pour the mixture over the peaches in the jar.
Seal the jar tightly and let it sit for two months 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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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,053 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,402 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peach, white wine, vinegar, mustard, garlic, ginger, clove):
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peach, white wine, vinegar, mustard, garlic, ginger, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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