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Tomatoes, Pickled

A method for pickling tomatoes in spiced vinegar with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Tomatoes, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vinegar

  1. Prepare the spiced vinegar as directed.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar to each quart of vinegar.

Pack and seal

  1. Pack the tomatoes loosely in a large jar.

  2. Cover the tomatoes with boiling vinegar.

  3. Seal with a close-fitting lid or plate to keep in the steam.

  4. Tie down to completely exclude air.

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

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

  2. Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,063 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,667 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

Small firm tomatoes
Provide the main body of the pickle, and their firmness helps them hold shape in the brine.
Spiced vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the tomatoes their tangy flavour and helps preserve them.
Moist sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a rounded sweetness.

The step that matters

Tie down to completely exclude air. Air left in the jar can let mould and spoilage organisms grow on the surface. A tight seal keeps the tomatoes submerged in the acidic vinegar, which slows that spoilage.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar. 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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