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To Pickle Barberries

A pickled preserve made by boiling barberries in vinegar, water, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

To Pickle Barberries

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickling liquor

  1. Combine the vinegar and water in a pot.

  2. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

  3. Add the worst barberries to the mixture and reserve the best for later.

  4. Boil the mixture, skimming off any scum.

  5. Continue boiling until it reaches a fine color.

Strain and bottle

  1. Let it cool, then strain through a coarse cloth.

  2. Allow it to settle, then pour the clear liquid into glasses.

  3. Seal the glasses with a bladder.

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. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

White wine vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the barberries and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and adds sweetness to the pickling liquor.

The step that matters

Skimming off any scum while boiling. Scum forms on the surface as the mixture boils and can carry impurities that cloud the liquid or spoil it. Removing it keeps the pickle clear and clean-tasting.

“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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