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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peaches
Pare, stone, and cut the peaches into pieces.
Add a little water and cook in a double boiler until reduced to a pulp.
Pass the mixture through a colander.
Make the marmalade
Add ½ lb of sugar for each lb of pulp and boil until it reaches a jelly-like consistency. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent burning.
Once done, seal in jars.
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.
-
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 flavor and pectin-bearing pulp that the marmalade is built on.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pulp and, with boiling, helps it thicken into a jelly-like set.
The step that matters
Boiling with sugar until jelly-like. Sugar and boiling concentrate the pulp and help it set. Stirring constantly keeps the sugar-rich mixture from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pan, which would give a burnt flavor.
“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
Peach Ice Cream64 recipes
Peach Fritters55 recipes
Peach Meringue40 recipes
Peach Ice16 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.