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 ↓
Brandied Peaches Whole
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peaches
Peel the peaches using lye (see canned peaches).
Blanch the peaches in boiling water for 2 to 5 minutes.
Chill the peaches in cold water and place them in a cooling pan.
Make the syrup
Make a syrup by combining 1 gallon of water and 10 pounds of sugar, cooking it to 26 degrees on a saccharometer.
Pour the hot syrup over the peaches and let them stand for 12 to 15 hours.
Drain the syrup and filter it through a rinsed cheesecloth.
Return the syrup to the kettle and add 8 pounds of sugar, whole cloves, and broken cinnamon sticks tied in a cloth.
Cook the syrup to 30 degrees on the saccharometer.
Cool the syrup to 160 degrees and add 1 quart of brandy.
Pack and process
Fill the peaches into containers and cover with the syrup.
Process No. 1 glass jars for 10 minutes at 212°F, No. 2 jars for 16 minutes, ½ gallon jars for 20 minutes, and gallon jars for 30 minutes.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Peach + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together625 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Peach + clovetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together280 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yellow cling peaches
- Provide the fruit that softens and absorbs the syrup and brandy flavour during the long soak.
- Sugar
- Forms the concentrated syrup that preserves the peaches and gives them sweetness.
- Brandy
- Adds alcohol and aroma that flavour the syrup and help preserve the fruit.
- Cinnamon sticks
- Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the syrup.
- Whole cloves
- Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the syrup.
The step that matters
Adding the brandy at 160 degrees. Alcohol evaporates quickly when hot, so cooling the syrup to 160 degrees before adding brandy keeps more of its aroma and alcohol in the finished jars.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, syrup, clove, cinnamon, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup, clove, cinnamon, brandy. 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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