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 ↓
Walnut Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnuts
Gather walnuts in June when they can be pierced with a pin.
Make a brine with 1½ cups salt and 1 gallon water.
Pour the brine over the walnuts while it is boiling hot.
Let the walnuts stand in the brine for 6 days.
Soak the walnuts in clear water overnight.
Rub the walnuts with a coarse cloth.
Air the walnuts in the sun until they turn black, turning them once.
Pickle in spiced vinegar
Place the walnuts in a stone jar; use 1 gallon of vinegar for 100 walnuts.
Boil 1 gallon of cider vinegar for 10 minutes, adding brown sugar, cloves, allspice, peppercorns, and mace.
Pour the hot vinegar over the walnuts.
After 3 days, draw off the vinegar, boil it, and pour it over the walnuts again while hot.
Repeat this process after another 3 days.
The pickles will be ready to eat in a month and can be stored for years.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Walnut + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together553 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnuts
- Are the main ingredient that is transformed by brining and pickling into the finished pickle.
- Salt
- Draws water out of the walnuts and helps firm and preserve them during the brine.
- Cider vinegar
- Acidity preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Cloves
- Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Peppercorns
- Add pungent, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Air the walnuts in the sun until they turn black. The walnuts must darken fully before pickling; this browning from exposure to air and sun is what gives the finished pickle its dark colour, so stopping early leaves them pale.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, mace):
- Walnutthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Almondfits about as well
- Beansfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, mace. 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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