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Cucumber Pickles

A method of preserving cucumbers in a vinegar and sugar brine with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine and green

  1. Soak small cucumbers in brine for 3 days.

  2. Soak large cucumbers in brine for 8 days.

  3. Wash cucumbers in cold water.

  4. In a porcelain kettle, layer grape, horse‑radish, or cabbage leaves with cucumbers.

  5. Add 1 tablespoon of pulverized alum for each gallon of cucumbers.

  6. Cover with a mixture of vinegar and water.

  7. Set on low heat and scald for 1 hour without boiling.

  8. If cucumbers do not turn green, add 1 tablespoon of pulverized saltpeter and more leaves.

  9. Once greened, wipe cucumbers dry and place them in a jar.

Make the spiced vinegar and pack

  1. In a pot, combine 1 gallon of cider vinegar with 1 pound of brown sugar and bring to a boil.

  2. Add cinnamon bark, cloves, sliced horse‑radish, and red pepper to the vinegar.

  3. Sprinkle spices through the cucumbers.

  4. Pour the boiling vinegar over the cucumbers.

  5. Seal the jar while hot.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Cucumber + cinnamontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together874 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Cucumber + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,319 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the pickle itself, with their texture firming during brining and scalding.
Alum
Helps cucumbers stay firm and crisp during the long soaking and scalding.
Cider vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that preserves the pickles and balances the sugar.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth that offsets the sharp vinegar.
Cinnamon bark
Contributes warm aroma and flavor to the spiced vinegar.
Horse-radish roots
Adds pungent, sharp flavor to the pickles and leaves used for greening.

The step that matters

Scald without boiling. Holding the cucumbers at a gentle simmer below boiling keeps them firm and helps them take on green color; boiling can soften the flesh and make them mushy.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, egg, cider, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Applefits better
  2. Quincefits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, egg, cider, 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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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