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Pickled Walnuts

Pickled walnuts are preserved in a brine and vinegar solution, then jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Walnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnuts

  1. Procure young walnuts and prick them well with a fork.

  2. Prepare a strong brine with 4 lbs of salt in 1 gallon of water.

  3. Submerge the walnuts in the brine for 9 days, changing the brine every third day.

  4. Drain the walnuts and place them on a dish in the sun until they turn black, about 2 to 3 days.

Pickle and store

  1. Prepare dry jars and fill them with the walnuts, leaving some space at the top.

  2. Boil vinegar with the spices for 10 minutes, then pour it hot over the walnuts to cover them completely.

  3. Seal the jars and store them in a dry place.

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. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Walnut + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together553 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Walnut + gingertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Walnuts
Young walnuts are the main ingredient, softening in brine and darkening in the sun.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the walnuts and preserves them through the long brine soak.
Vinegar
Acidity preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Black pepper
Adds pungent, aromatic flavour to the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Sunning the brined walnuts until they turn black. The walnuts must be fully dried and darkened in the sun before jarring. Under-drying leaves moisture that can spoil the pickle, while the browning comes from oxidation of the walnut's compounds as they dry.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Sesamefits about as well
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, allspice, 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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