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Pickled Tomatoes

A method of preserving tomatoes by immersing them in vinegar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Blanch and cool

  1. Boil water in a kettle.

  2. Once boiling, remove the kettle from heat.

  3. Transfer tomatoes to a basin of cold water.

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Add enough cold vinegar to cover the tomatoes.

  2. Add whole pepper and mustard seed.

  3. When tomatoes are cold, cut each in half and remove seeds.

  4. Wipe the inside of each tomato dry with a cloth.

Jar and seal

  1. Place tomatoes in glass jars and cover with vinegar.

  2. Seal jars tightly with corks or close-fitting tin covers.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main body and juicy flesh that absorbs the vinegar's flavor.
Cold vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps keep the tomatoes preserved.
Whole pepper
Adds peppery aroma and mild heat as it infuses the vinegar.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, aromatic bite that develops as it steeps in the vinegar.

The step that matters

Wipe the tomatoes dry. Any water left inside the tomatoes dilutes the vinegar around them, weakening its acidity and flavor. Thorough drying keeps the vinegar strong enough to pickle the fruit and reduces the chance of spoilage in the jar.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, mustard):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, mustard. 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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