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Dessert

Pickled Mangoes

A preserved mango dish pickled in vinegar with spices and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Pickled Mangoes

Ingredients

Directions

Soak and prepare the mangoes

  1. Soak the mangoes in strong salt water for two weeks, changing the water every two days.

  2. Remove the seeds from the mangoes.

  3. Place the mangoes in a kettle, layering with grape leaves.

  4. Add the alum and pour vinegar over the mangoes.

  5. Boil the mixture for 10–15 minutes.

  6. Remove the grape leaves.

  7. Let the pickles sit in the vinegar for a week.

Make the stuffing

  1. Prepare the stuffing by mixing ginger, spices, garlic, horseradish, brown sugar, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, and green tomatoes.

  2. Soak the vegetables in brine for a day and night.

  3. Drain the vegetables well.

  4. Mix the chopped imperfect mangoes with the stuffing mixture.

Stuff and store

  1. Stuff the mangoes and tie them closed.

  2. Place the stuffed mangoes in a stone jar.

  3. Pour cider vinegar over the mangoes in the jar.

  4. Store in a bright, dry place until canned.

  5. After a month, add 3 pounds of brown sugar, adjusting to taste.

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. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Mango + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together256 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Mangoes
Form the main body of the pickle and absorb the brine and vinegar flavours.
Cider vinegar
Acidity that preserves the mangoes and gives the pickle its sharp tang.
Alum
Firms the fruit so it keeps its shape during boiling and soaking.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savoury depth to the stuffing.
Horseradish
Contributes sharp, pungent heat to the stuffing.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Boil the mangoes in vinegar with alum. Boiling for only 10–15 minutes with alum firms the fruit; overboiling softens the mangoes so they cannot hold their shape when stuffed and stored.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, cider, vinegar, ginger, pepper, allspice, turmeric. 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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