Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓
Cherry Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine vinegar, sugar, and spices in a pot.
Boil the mixture.
Pickle the cherries
Pour the hot mixture over the cherries.
Boil the syrup for twelve consecutive mornings.
Ensure there is enough syrup to cover the cherries.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve the fruit.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the syrup, balancing the acidity and helping preserve the fruit.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet aroma to the syrup and the cherries.
- Cloves
- Adds a pungent, warm aroma to the syrup.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the syrup.
- Cherries
- The main fruit, which absorbs the flavored syrup and becomes tangy and sweet.
The step that matters
Keep the cherries fully covered with syrup. Fruit left exposed above the liquid can spoil or discolor, and mold and yeast grow more easily on it. Keeping the cherries submerged in the acidic, sugary syrup protects them during the pickling period.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove):
- Allspicefits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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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