Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Pickle Walnuts Green
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnuts
Prick the walnuts with a pin and soak them in a strong saltwater solution for 9 days, changing the solution three times.
Cover the bottom of a pan with green blades, place the walnuts inside, and cover with water and more blades.
Heat the pan until you can bear your hand in it, then let it cool. Repeat this heating process 2-3 times.
If the water turns black, pour it off and replace it with fresh water and blades, then heat again until the nuts are soft.
Scrape the skins off the walnuts with a knife, smooth them with a cloth, and place them in a jar of warm water.
Make the pickle
Boil the vinegar with salt, white pepper, Cayenne pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg for 2-3 minutes, then let it cool.
Smooth the walnuts again, place them in a jar, and pour the cooled vinegar over them.
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.
-
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Walnut + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,230 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 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 walnuts
- Provide the main body of the pickle, softened during soaking and heating and absorbing the spiced vinegar.
- Strong vinegar
- Acts as the preserving liquid that carries the spices and gives the pickle its sharp acidity.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the walnuts and softens them during the saltwater soak.
- Ginger
- Adds warm, aromatic pungency to the pickling liquid.
- Cloves
- Contribute warm, aromatic flavour to the pickling vinegar.
The step that matters
Heating the walnuts until soft, and pouring off black water. Walnuts must be softened gently through repeated heating, and discolored water signals tannins leaching out. Replacing it with fresh water and blades keeps the nuts from taking on bitterness and dark staining before they are pickled.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, vinegar, pepper, ginger, clove, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, vinegar, pepper, ginger, clove, nutmeg. 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.