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Mixed Yellow Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, onions, and cabbage, seasoned with salt, celery seed, spices, and a turmeric‑infused vinegar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Mixed Yellow Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Layer cucumbers, onions, and cabbage in a basket, alternating layers, with onions at the bottom.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and let it drip for 24 hours.

  3. Shake off the salt and transfer to jars.

  4. Mix in celery seed and spices to taste.

Make the brine

  1. Combine cider vinegar, brown sugar, and turmeric in a muslin bag in a pot.

  2. Boil the mixture.

Pour and seal

  1. Pour the hot mixture over the vegetables for four consecutive mornings.

  2. Seal the jars tightly.

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. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the main crisp vegetable body that holds its texture in the pickle.
Cider vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with sweetness and adds a deeper, molasses-like flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the vegetables, firming them and reducing the liquid that would dilute the brine.
Turmeric
Adds a yellow colour and an earthy, aromatic flavour to the brine.

The step that matters

Shake off the salt before jarring. Salt draws water out of the vegetables through osmosis. Rinsing or shaking off excess salt keeps the pickle from becoming overly salty, while the vegetables stay firm.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cabbage, celery, cider, vinegar, sugar, turmeric):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Radishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cabbage, celery, cider, vinegar, sugar, turmeric. 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 mixed pickles recipes

English 3 See all 133 →

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