Skip to main content
Dessert

Peach Preserves

A sweet preserve made by boiling peaches with sugar and optional kernels.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Cut the peaches in halves.

  2. Weigh the peaches. For every pound of fruit, use one pound of sugar.

  3. Crack the peach stones and extract the kernels.

  4. Add a few kernels to the syrup for flavoring.

Make the syrup

  1. Layer sugar and fruit in a kettle, starting with sugar, until all is used.

  2. Set the kettle where it will warm slowly until the sugar melts and the fruit is hot.

  3. Boil steadily until the peaches are tender and clear.

  4. Remove the peaches with a perforated skimmer and place them on large flat dishes.

  5. Boil the syrup until it is clear and thick, almost to a jelly.

  6. Skim the syrup.

Jar and seal

  1. Fill jars two-thirds full with fruit.

  2. Pour the boiling syrup over the fruit in the jars.

  3. Cover the jars with brandied tissue paper, cloth, and thick paper tied tightly.

  4. Boil the syrup for an additional 15 minutes, stirring often to let the scum rise.

  5. Skim the syrup again.

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. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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
Provide the fruit that softens and becomes tender and clear in the syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the preserves and, as it thickens into syrup, helps set them into a jelly-like texture.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup until clear and thick, almost to a jelly. Sugar must be concentrated enough by boiling to set and preserve the fruit. Undercooked syrup stays thin and may spoil, while overcooking can make it too stiff or cause sugar to crystallize.

“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.

More peach preserves recipes

Spiced 20Clingstone 4 See all 112 →

You might also like

Peach Ice CreamPeach Ice Cream64 recipesPeach FrittersPeach Fritters55 recipesPeach MeringuePeach Meringue40 recipesPeach IcePeach Ice16 recipes