Name: Peach Preserves
Ingredients: very fine peaches; cold water; sugar (for syrup)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Peach Preserves

Ingredients

very fine peaches
cold water
sugar (for syrup)

Directions

Prick the peaches with a large needle.
Soak them in cold water.
Boil the peaches in the same water until soft.
Remove the peaches and place them in cold water again.
Drain the peaches and arrange them in an earthen pan.
Boil sugar with water to a thread consistency to make syrup.
The next day, drain the syrup, boil it a bit more, and skim it.
Repeat this process for three days.
On the fourth day, drain the peaches and boil the syrup to a large pearl consistency.
Add the peaches to the syrup and boil once more, skimming well.
Transfer the peaches to dry pans for storage.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Peach + syruptop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together210 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).