Why it works: Pepper and capsicum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,571 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
To Pickle Lemons, and Limes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Wipe the lemons clean.
Make four deep incisions in each lemon, from the stalk to the blossom end, without dividing the fruit.
Stuff the lemons with salt.
Place the lemons in a deep dish in a sunny window or warm place for 7 to 10 days.
Turn the lemons and baste them with their own juice.
Rub the lemons with turmeric.
Pack and pickle
Place the lemons in a stone jar with garlic and onions.
Boil the vinegar with ginger, black pepper, and mustard seed.
Pour the hot vinegar over the lemons.
Cover the jar with a plate.
Let the jar sit overnight.
Add the capsicums to the jar.
Seal the jar with a skin and thick paper.
Store the pickles covered with vinegar; they will last for seven years.
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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Pepper + capsicumtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,571 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,053 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,402 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Their peel and juice are the main flavour, softened and infused by salt and their own juice.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out juice and preserves the lemons by inhibiting spoilage microbes.
- White wine vinegar
- Acidity that preserves the lemons and keeps the pickling liquid sharp.
- Ginger
- Adds warm, aromatic pungency to the pickling vinegar.
- Mustard seed
- Adds pungent, sharp flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma that mellows during pickling.
The step that matters
Stuffing and salting the lemons. Salt must reach inside the incisions to draw out juice and preserve the fruit; too little salt lets the lemons spoil during the long sunny standing period.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, white wine, vinegar, pepper, mustard, capsicum, garlic):
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, white wine, vinegar, pepper, mustard, capsicum, garlic. 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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