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Tomato Relish

A preserved tomato relish with onions, apples, 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: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tomato Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, onion, and apples finely.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients.

  2. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.

  3. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Jar

  1. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the relish and release juice that thickens as it simmers.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens flavour and helps preserve the relish.
Apples
Add body and natural pectin that helps the relish set as it cooks.
Onion
Contributes savoury depth and aroma as it softens during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer gently with occasional stirring. Tomatoes and apples are high in water and sugar, so they can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Stirring prevents sticking and burning, while a gentle simmer lets excess liquid evaporate slowly so the relish thickens evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, apple, vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, ginger):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, apple, vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, ginger. 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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