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
Select the finest lemons with thick rinds.
Cut each lemon deeply from end to end in several places, but not completely through.
Fill the incisions with coarse sea salt.
Place the lemons upright in a dish near a fire or in the sun to dissolve the salt, repeating this for 3 weeks.
Pickle
After 3 weeks, place the lemons in a jar with white mustard seeds, bruised ginger, cloves, allspice, chilis, and turmeric.
Boil vinegar and pour it over the lemons when 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).
-
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
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 rind and juice form the body of the pickle, and salting softens the rind over time.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the lemons and preserves them while the salt dissolves into the fruit.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that preserves the lemons and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
- Bruised ginger
- Contributes a warm, aromatic pungency that flavours the pickling liquid and lemons.
The step that matters
Pouring the vinegar over the lemons after it has cooled. Vinegar poured while still hot can cook the lemons and soften the rind unevenly. Letting it cool first keeps the fruit firm while the acidity preserves it.
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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