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Pickling and Preserving

A method for pickling grapes in a sugar and vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pickling and Preserving

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Spread grapes on a clean cloth and cover with flannel to dry.

Make the pickle

  1. Boil water and sugar for 15 minutes, then skim.

  2. Add mace, nutmeg, and vinegar and boil together.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Pack and store

  1. Pour the mixture over the grapes to cover them.

  2. Seal the jar with a softened bladder and a piece of leather.

  3. Store in a dry place.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Grape + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together201 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

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

  4. Grape + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Grape + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,640 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the grapes by drawing out moisture.
White wine vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps keep the pickle preserved.
Grapes
Provide the fruit that is preserved and absorbs the flavour of the pickle.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickle.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickle.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before pouring it over the grapes. Pouring hot liquid over fresh fruit can soften it and cook it unevenly, so cooling first keeps the grapes firmer and better preserved.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against grape, sugar, nutmeg, white wine, 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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