Name: Sweet Corn Pickle
Ingredients: 2 quarts sweet corn, cut from cob; 4 large green sweet peppers, sliced fine; 4 large red sweet peppers, sliced fine; 6 large onions, sliced fine; 1 teaspoon celery seed; 1 teaspoon mustard seed; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; mild vinegar, to cover

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Sweet Corn Pickle

Ingredients

2 quarts sweet corn, cut from cob
4 large green sweet peppers, sliced fine
4 large red sweet peppers, sliced fine
6 large onions, sliced fine
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
mild vinegar, to cover

Directions

Prepare

Combine the sweet corn, sliced peppers, and sliced onions in a large pot.
Add the celery seed, mustard seed, brown sugar, and coarse sea salt.

Cook and seal

Cover the mixture with mild vinegar and bring to a boil.
Boil for about 30 minutes.
Seal the mixture in jars while hot.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Mustard + vinegartop 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

Sweet corn: Provides the main bulk and a tender, sweet bite in the pickle.
Onions: Add savoury depth and body that holds up during long simmering.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mild vinegar: Acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its tang.

The step that matters

Boiling for about 30 minutes. The mixture must reach a full boil and be held long enough for the vegetables to soften and the acidic vinegar to penetrate. Sealing hot helps create a vacuum seal in the jars.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, pepper, celery, mustard, sugar, vinegar):

Capsicumfits better
Lettucefits better
Horseradishfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, pepper, celery, mustard, sugar, vinegar. 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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Sweet Corn Pickle