Why it works: Sugar and vinegar 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 ↓
Sweet Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Peel and core apples and pears.
Prick tomatoes and stone fruit in a few places.
Combine fruit, sugar, and vinegar in a pot.
Add spices to taste and bring to a boil.
Pour the mixture into glass jars, ensuring they are airtight.
Store jars in a dry, cool place.
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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,884 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Sugar + malttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together325 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Malt + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together365 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, malt, vinegar):
- Vanillafits better
- Applethe original
- Bananafits about as well
- Mangofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, malt, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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