Why it works: Cucumber and ginger work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 973 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Cucumber Sweetmeats
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Soak cucumbers in strong brine for 4‑5 days.
Wash cucumbers and soak in cold water for 1 day, changing the water several times.
Green cucumbers as for pickles, omitting vinegar, and do not let them boil.
When green, drop cucumbers into ice water until cold.
Make a slit in one side and remove the seeds.
Fill cucumbers with chopped raisins and citron, then sew them up with thread.
Make the syrup and cook
Weigh the cucumbers and use 1 pound of sugar for every pound of cucumbers.
Dissolve sugar in 1 pint of cold water, boil quickly, and skim.
Drop cucumbers into the syrup and boil slowly for 30 minutes.
Lay cucumbers on a dish in the sun.
Boil the syrup until thick, adding slices of ginger.
Drop cucumbers back into the syrup for a few moments.
Jar
Put cucumbers into glass jars and seal when cold.
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.
-
Cucumber + gingertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together973 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Ginger + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,242 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Cucumber + raisintop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together40 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Provide the bulk of the candied pieces, which become firm and translucent after brining and syrup cooking.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cucumbers and, as it penetrates, helps preserve them and gives the candied texture.
- Strong brine
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and firms their flesh before they are cooked.
The step that matters
Boil the cucumbers slowly in the syrup. Boiling gently keeps the cucumber pieces intact, while a hard boil can break them apart. Sugar slowly replaces water in the flesh, so the syrup should not be rushed.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, ginger, raisin):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, raisin. 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
Ginger Cookies213 recipes
Ginger Cake93 recipes
Soft Ginger Bread85 recipes
Soft Ginger Cake56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.