Why it works: Peach and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,308 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Peach Leather
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Pound the peaches and press the pulp through a coarse sieve.
In a pot, combine 4 quarts of peach pulp with 1 pint of brown sugar and mix well.
Boil the mixture for about 2 minutes.
Dry and store
Spread the paste on plates and place them in the sun daily until dry.
Once dry, use a knife to loosen the edges and dust the rough side with white sugar.
Roll the paste up like sweet wafers and store in a dry place.
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.
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Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Peaches
- Provide the fruit pulp that becomes the leather's body and flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and molasses flavor, and helps the paste hold together as it dries.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for about 2 minutes. Boiling thickens the pulp by evaporating water, so the paste sets into a leather that dries firmly rather than staying sticky or spoiling.
“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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