Name: Pickling Spice
Ingredients: 10 pounds small Jamaica ginger; 2½ pounds black peppercorns; 1½ pounds white peppercorns; ½ pound allspice; ¼ pound long pepper; 1½ pounds mustard seed; ¼ pound chili pods

Why it works: Ginger and allspice 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 ↓

Pickling Spice

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the ginger and long pepper into small pieces.
Mix all the other ingredients thoroughly.
Use 1 ounce of the spice mix for each pint of boiling vinegar, adjusting for desired strength.

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.

Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,928 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Jamaica ginger: Adds warm, pungent, spicy aroma that gives the blend its character.
Black peppercorns: Provides sharp, pungent heat and aroma.
White peppercorns: Adds a milder, sharper pepper bite and aroma.
Allspice: Contributes warm, aromatic flavor notes.
Mustard seed: Adds a sharp, pungent bite to the pickling liquid.
Chili pods: Adds heat that gives the spice blend its kick.