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 Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peaches
Peel and remove the stones from the peaches.
Briefly immerse the peaches in boiling water, then drain.
Pass the peaches through a sieve to obtain the pulp.
Weigh the pulp and for every pound, measure out 12 ounces of sugar.
Make the jam
Clarify the sugar and boil it until it reaches a feather stage.
Add the pulp, reduced to half its volume, and mix well.
Boil the mixture for five minutes, then transfer it to pots.
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 (in the method)
- Provide the fruit pulp that forms the jam's body and flavour.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, when boiled, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar to the feather stage. Sugar must reach the feather stage before the pulp is added, so the mixture has enough concentration to set when cooled. Underboiling leaves the jam runny; overboiling can make it hard and grainy.
“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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