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Dessert

Brandied Peaches

Peaches preserved in brandy after boiling with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 1 ingredients
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Brandied Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Brush off the down from white peaches, free the stones, and prick each peach with a large needle in several places.

  2. Place the peaches in cold water to cover them.

Poach and soak

  1. Put a kettle on moderate fire, keep it scalding hot without boiling until the fruit yields to the touch.

  2. Carefully remove the peaches with a skimmer into cold water and let them remain 10 minutes.

  3. Drain the peaches, then cover them with fresh water and let them remain 15 minutes.

  4. Drain again, cover with cold water, and let them stand 10 minutes.

Make the syrup and finish

  1. Take three-quarters of a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and one small teacup of water for each pound of sugar.

  2. Put the sugar and water on fire and boil until thick.

  3. Add an equal quantity of white brandy and pour over the fruit.

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the fruit and, when boiled, thickens the water into a syrup that coats the peaches.
White brandy (in the method)
Adds alcoholic aroma and warmth to the finished syrup and fruit.
Peaches (in the method)
Provide the fruit, which softens during gentle scalding and takes up the syrup.

The step that matters

Keep the water scalding, not boiling. At a full boil the peach skins and flesh can break apart and turn mushy. Holding the water just below the boil softens the fruit evenly until it yields to gentle pressure.

“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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