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Dessert

Pickled Peaches

Pickled peaches preserved in a vinegar and sugar brine with cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and peach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 280 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickled Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the down from the peaches using a brush.

  2. Heat the vinegar and add the brown sugar; boil and skim well.

  3. Stick 5-6 cloves into each peach.

Pickle

  1. Pour the boiling hot vinegar over the peaches and cover them.

  2. Set the covered peaches in a cold place for 8-10 days.

  3. Drain off the vinegar, heat it again, skim it, and pour it over the peaches.

Jar and seal

  1. Let the peaches cool, then transfer them to glass jars and seal as for preserves.

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. Clove + peachtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + peachtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together348 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + peachtop 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

Cling-stone peaches
Provide the fruit that is pickled and absorbs the spiced vinegar and sugar.
Vinegar
Acts as the pickling liquid that preserves the fruit and gives it tartness.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the pickling liquid and balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Whole cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavour that penetrates the peaches during pickling.

The step that matters

Pouring the boiling vinegar over the peaches. The vinegar must be boiling hot so it heats the fruit and helps the pickling liquid penetrate and preserve it. Covering the peaches holds in heat and aroma while they steep.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Peppermintfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, peach. 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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