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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling small cucumbers in a vinegar brine with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,152 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gherkins

  1. Gather gherkins on a dry day before frost.

  2. Remove the blossoms and place them in a stone jar.

  3. Pour boiling brine over the gherkins to cover them well.

  4. The next day, remove and wipe each gherkin individually.

Pickle

  1. Layer the gherkins in a clean stone jar with a dozen bay leaves on top.

  2. Pour boiling vinegar over the gherkins until covered by 1-2 inches.

  3. Add salt, peppercorns, ginger, and mace to the jar.

  4. Cover the jar with a plate and let it sit for two days.

  5. Drain the vinegar and reheat it until boiling.

  6. Add the gherkins back into the boiling vinegar for 2-3 minutes.

  7. Pour everything back into the jar and cover with the plate again.

  8. Let it cool completely, then tie thick brown paper over the jar.

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. Ginger + macetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,126 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins
Form the main body of the pickle, becoming crisp and firm once brined and pickled.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins and seasons the brine.
Ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Wipe each gherkin individually after the brine. Removing the brine residue from each gherkin keeps salt and surface film from clouding the vinegar and affecting the pickle's flavour and texture.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, ginger. 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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