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Watermelon Pickles

Pickled watermelon rind preserved with vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Watermelon Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rind

  1. Peel the watermelon rind and remove all red or pink meat.

  2. Cut the rind into desired sized pieces to make 1 gallon.

  3. Place the rind in a kettle, cover with cold water, and add salt.

  4. Boil until the rind can be easily pierced with a toothpick, then drain in a colander for at least 2 hours.

Make the syrup and pickle

  1. In a large kettle, combine vinegar, sugars, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger, and cinnamon, and boil for 20 minutes.

  2. Add the drained rind to the kettle and boil until the rind looks transparent and the juice has thickened.

Seal

  1. Seal in airtight fruit jars. Optionally, add a sliced lemon before sealing.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Watermelon rind
Forms the pickled body of the dish, becoming tender and translucent as it cooks in syrup.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the pickles.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it dissolves, thickens the syrup for a glossy coating.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and molasses notes that deepen the color and flavor of the syrup.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm aroma and spice flavor to the syrup.

The step that matters

Drain the rind after boiling. Rind left wet dilutes the vinegar syrup, weakening its flavor and preservation. Draining for at least 2 hours lets excess water run off so the syrup can thicken properly.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, nutmeg, clove, allspice, cinnamon):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Marjoramfits less well
  4. Winter savoryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, nutmeg, clove, allspice, cinnamon. 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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