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To Pickle Walnuts

A method for preserving walnuts by pickling them in a seasoned brine and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Pickle Walnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the walnuts

  1. When walnuts can be pierced with a pin, prepare a brine with salt and water strong enough to float an egg.

  2. Boil and cool the brine.

  3. Skim the brine while boiling, then soak the walnuts in it for six days.

  4. Change the brine and let the walnuts stand for another six days.

Pickle and seal

  1. Drain the walnuts and place them in a jar.

  2. Pour over them the best white-wine vinegar mixed with pepper, pimento, ginger, mace, cloves, mustard-seed, and horseradish, all boiled and cooled.

  3. For every 100 walnuts, add 6 tablespoons of mustard-seed and 2–3 heads of garlic or shallot.

  4. Seal the jar tightly.

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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Walnuts
Are the main ingredient that softens in the brine and takes on the pickling flavours.
White-wine vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Salt
Draws out moisture and flavour in the brine, helping to firm and season the walnuts.
Mustard-seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that stands up to the vinegar.

The step that matters

Sealing and the long brine soak. The walnuts must be fully covered in brine for the full twelve days, with a fresh brine on day six, so that the salt draws out bitterness and the walnuts are properly preserved before the vinegar is added. Skimming while boiling removes impurities that could spoil the pickle.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, wine, vinegar, pepper, ginger, clove, mustard):

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

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