Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Pickle Lemons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Cut deep incisions in the lemons without cutting all the way through.
Fill the incisions with coarse sea salt and place the lemons upright in a dish.
Leave the dish near a fire or in the sun for 3 weeks to dissolve the salt, repeating as necessary.
Pickle and seal
After 3 weeks, place the lemons in a jar with mustard seeds, bruised ginger, cloves, allspice, chilis, and turmeric.
Boil vinegar and pour it over the lemons once it has cooled.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 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
- Lemons
- Their thick rinds and flesh are salted and softened over time, becoming tender and tangy enough to eat whole.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the lemons and breaks down the flesh, softening the fruit while preserving it.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that preserves the lemons and gives the pickle its sharp, sour flavour.
- White mustard seeds
- Contribute a pungent, sharp aroma and flavour to the pickling liquid and lemons.
- Ginger
- Adds warm, aromatic pungency that complements the lemons and spices.
The step that matters
Salting over 3 weeks. The salt must fully dissolve and the lemons must be turned or repeatedly salted so the salt penetrates evenly. Uneven salting leaves spoilage-prone spots and an unevenly softened texture.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, ginger, clove, allspice, turmeric, vinegar):
- Limefits better
- Lemonthe original
- Mangofits about as well
- Cherryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, ginger, clove, allspice, turmeric, vinegar. 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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