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Sweet Mango Pickle

A sweet pickled mango preserved in vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sweet Mango Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mangoes

  1. Soak the mangoes in salt water for 4 to 6 days.

  2. Rinse the mangoes and layer them in a preserving kettle with grape leaves, sprinkling 2 teaspoons of alum over each layer.

  3. Mix equal parts of vinegar and water and pour over the mangoes to cover them.

  4. Scald the mixture until the mangoes turn green, then cool them in cold water.

  5. Open the mangoes and scrape out the contents.

Make the syrup and soak

  1. In a stone jar, combine ½ gallon of vinegar, ½ gallon of water, and 3 pounds of sugar; heat to boiling and pour over the mangoes.

  2. Let the mangoes sit for a day and night, then draw off the vinegar, heat it, and pour it over the mangoes again for three mornings.

Fill and finish

  1. Prepare the dressing by mixing 1 quart of chopped cabbage, 1 chopped onion, 1 pint of white mustard seed, ½ ounce of cloves, ½ ounce of mace, 1 ounce of cinnamon, and 1 ounce of celery seed.

  2. Fill the mangoes with the dressing, sew or tie them closed, and place them in a stone jar.

  3. Boil 4 pounds of sugar with 1 gallon of best cider vinegar for 10 minutes and pour it over the mangoes.

  4. Ensure the mangoes are kept well submerged in the vinegar.

  5. Mix the dressing with a teacup of salad oil if desired.

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. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  2. Mango + grapetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together101 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mangoes
Form the main body of the pickle, softened and then filled with the spiced dressing.
Alum
Firms the mango flesh so it keeps its shape during long soaking and scalding.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and helps preserve the pickle in the sweet-sour vinegar brine.
Vinegar
Acidifies the brine, preserving the mangoes and giving the pickle its sharp flavour.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent flavour to the dressing that fills the mangoes.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the dressing.

The step that matters

Keep the mangoes fully submerged in the vinegar. Mangoes exposed above the brine can spoil or mould, because the acidic liquid is what preserves them. Keeping every piece covered maintains that protective acidity throughout storage.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mango, vinegar, sugar, cabbage, onion, mustard, clove):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, vinegar, sugar, cabbage, onion, mustard, 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.

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