Name: Tomatoes, Pickled
Ingredients: Small firm tomatoes; Spiced vinegar; 2 teaspoons moist sugar

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

Small firm tomatoes
Spiced vinegar
2 teaspoons moist sugar

Directions

Prepare the spiced vinegar as directed.
Add 2 teaspoons of sugar to each quart of vinegar.
Pack the tomatoes loosely in a large jar.
Cover the tomatoes with boiling vinegar.
Place a close-fitting lid or plate on top to keep in the steam.
Tie down the lid 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.

Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,667 recipes

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