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Dessert

Peach Jam

A sweet preserve made by cooking peaches with sugar for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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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

  1. Scald the peaches.

  2. Mash the peaches well.

Cook the jam

  1. Boil the peaches for three hours, stirring constantly.

  2. Add the sugar gradually.

  3. Allow the peaches to cook nearly done before adding the sugar.

  4. Use a long wooden ladle for stirring.

  5. Wear gloves to protect your hands.

  6. Keep the heat steady but low to avoid spitting.

Store

  1. Once done, store the jam in small jars covered with paper.

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
Supply the fruit base, moisture and flavor, and their natural pectin helps the jam thicken as it cooks.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep, while binding with the fruit's pectin as it cooks.

The step that matters

Add the sugar once the peaches are nearly cooked down. Sugar added too early can toughen the fruit and slow its softening, so the peaches may not break down evenly. Adding it after the fruit has mostly cooked lets the mixture soften first, then thicken as the sugar and pectin set.

“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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