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Dessert

Mango Chutney

A preserved mango chutney made with green mangoes, ginger, garlic, dried chillies, vinegar, sugar, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mango and ginger work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 280 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Mango Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Ferment

  1. Transfer the mixture into a jar or bottle and cork it tightly.

  2. Place the jar in the sun for two weeks, stirring occasionally.

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. Mango + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  2. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Mango + garlictop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together383 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green mangoes
Provide the main fruit body and tartness that define the chutney.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps preserve the mixture while it ferments.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and moistens the chillies, supporting preservation.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during the long standing time.
Dried chillies
Provide heat and pungency to the chutney.
Green ginger
Adds sharp, aromatic warmth to the mixture.

The step that matters

Corking the jar tightly. A tight seal keeps air and contaminants out during the two-week standing period, while the salt, sugar and vinegar work to preserve the mixture. A loose cork risks spoilage.

Swap the garlic

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, ginger, vinegar, sugar. 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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