Skip to main content
Dessert

Sweet Mango Pickles

Sweet mango pickles are mangoes preserved in a brine and spice mixture, then sealed and steeped in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sweet Mango Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the melons

  1. Select young muskmelons or cantaloupes and cut a slit in the side.

  2. Soak in strong brine for one week until soft enough to remove the seeds.

  3. Wash well and soak in weak alum-water for 24 hours.

  4. Lay in the sun for a few hours to dry.

  5. Scald in weak vinegar with a little alum until nicely greened, then dry again.

Make the stuffing

  1. Make stuffing by combining white mustard seed, black mustard seed, celery seed, cloves, allspice, mace, and turmeric.

  2. Add sliced cucumber pickle or cabbage pickle and finely chopped onions to the spices.

Stuff and pickle

  1. Stuff each mango, tie securely, and place in a large stone jar with the slit side up and slices of lemon between.

  2. Prepare a second vinegar, sweeten to taste, and pour hot over the mangos.

  3. Tie up tightly and let sit for one to two weeks before using for best flavor.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 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

Young muskmelons or cantaloupes
Provide the firm fruit body that is softened, hollowed, and stuffed with the spice mixture.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent bite to the spice filling.
Black mustard seed
Adds a sharper, pungent heat to the spice filling.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth to the sweet vinegar that pickles the melons.
Sliced onions
Add savory bulk and a sharp flavor to the stuffing.
Sliced cucumber pickle or cabbage pickle
Adds tangy, crunchy pieces and acidity to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Softening the melons in brine. Brine must soak long enough to soften the flesh for seed removal, but the melon must then be thoroughly washed and soaked in alum-water to firm it. Under-soaking leaves the fruit hard, and skipping the wash leaves residual salt that affects flavor.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, mustard, celery, clove, allspice, turmeric, cucumber):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, celery, clove, allspice, turmeric, cucumber. 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.

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipesLemon CustardLemon Custard64 recipes