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Peach LA Cure

A method of preserving peaches by boiling them in sugar syrup and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 LA Cure

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Peel the peaches by dropping them in scalding ashes and water for a few minutes, then wash in cold water.

  2. Weigh the peaches and measure ¾ pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.

Make the syrup

  1. Make a syrup by boiling the sugar with water until dissolved.

  2. Boil the peaches in the syrup until a straw can pierce them easily.

  3. Boil the syrup down until thick.

  4. Add 1 pint of brandy for every 3 pints of syrup.

Pack and seal

  1. Place the peaches in a glass jar.

  2. Pour the syrup over the peaches and cover the jar tightly.

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.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Peach + syruptop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together210 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Clingstone peaches
Provide the fruit that is cooked until tender and preserved in the syrup.
White sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, at this concentration, helps preserve it by binding water.
Brandy
Adds flavor and alcohol, which further helps keep the preserves from spoiling.

The step that matters

Boil the peaches until a straw can pierce them easily. Cooking must soften the fruit fully so the syrup penetrates, but overcooking breaks the peaches apart and makes the texture mushy.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, syrup, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup, 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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