Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Cucumber Sweet Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Pare the cucumbers, remove the seeds, and cut them into quarters lengthwise.
Cover the cucumbers with alum water, using 1 dessert spoon of alum for each quart of water.
Heat the alum water slowly until nearly boiling, then let it cool gradually.
After cooling, transfer the cucumbers to very cold water, preferably ice water.
Make the syrup and pack
Make the syrup by boiling 1 pint of vinegar with 2 lbs of sugar and 2 tablespoons each of cloves and cinnamon tied in a bag for 10 minutes.
Remove the cucumbers from the cold water and place them in a crock.
Pour the hot syrup over the cucumbers.
Reheat the syrup three or four mornings in a row and pour it over the cucumbers each time.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cucumber + cinnamontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together874 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Cucumber + clovetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,319 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Provide the main body of the pickle, which firms and takes up the syrup's flavor.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumber pieces firm and crisp during soaking.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp tang.
- Granulated sugar
- Provides sweetness and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Ground cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma and flavor to the syrup.
The step that matters
Cooling the alum water gradually, then chilling the cucumbers. Alum firms the cucumber tissue, and cooling gradually followed by very cold water helps keep the pieces crisp rather than soft. Heating to a rolling boil or skipping the chill can leave the pickles limp.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon. 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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