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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling small cucumbers using vinegar, salt, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,331 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gherkins

  1. Gather small cucumbers or gherkins.

  2. Soak them in cold salt-and-water for four days, covered with a cabbage leaf.

  3. Drain the cucumbers.

  4. Place them in a clean brass pan with vinegar or cabbage leaves at the bottom.

  5. Cover with equal parts vinegar and water, adding a little pounded alum and more leaves on top.

Green and steep

  1. Heat the mixture until scalding hot.

  2. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  3. Repeat heating and cooling throughout the day.

  4. The next morning, heat the mixture twice again with fresh leaves under and over.

  5. For six or eight dozen gherkins, add half a pint of vinegar and enough water to cover them.

  6. Scald the mixture until the gherkins turn a good green.

  7. Drain the gherkins.

  8. Pour boiling water over them.

  9. Let them sit briefly.

Pickle and seal

  1. Transfer to wide-mouthed bottles or stone jars.

  2. Prepare vinegar boiled with bruised nutmeg, ginger, black peppercorns, and whole allspice, one ounce each to a quart.

  3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the gherkins.

  4. Cover until cool.

  5. Seal with bladders.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together722 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together501 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Small cucumbers or gherkins
Form the pickle itself; their firm flesh holds shape through repeated heating.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the sharp pickled flavour.
Pounded alum
Helps the gherkins stay firm and crisp during repeated scalding.
Salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers during the long soak, firming their texture.
Ginger
Adds warm aromatic flavour to the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Scalding to a good green. Heating gherkins in acidic liquid can dull or discolour them, and overheating softens the flesh. Stop once they turn a good green, since further heating makes them soft and dull.

Flavor stand-ins for the cabbage

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

  1. Radishbetter flavor fit
  2. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  3. Shallotbetter flavor fit
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, nutmeg, ginger, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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