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Dessert

Brandied Peaches

Peaches preserved in a syrup of sugar, water, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Brandied Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Weigh the peaches and prepare 1 lb of sugar for every lb of peaches.

  2. Make a strong solution of soda water, boil, and drop the peaches in for a moment, then wipe them with a towel to remove the fuzz.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar with just enough water to dissolve it, adding a bag of whole spices.

  2. Let the syrup boil clear, then add part of the peaches and boil for 20 minutes before removing them to dry in the sun.

  3. Add the remaining peaches to the syrup, then boil it down thick after removing the fruit.

Finish and store

  1. Let the syrup cool, then stir in 1 pt of brandy for every 3 lbs of sugar.

  2. Place the peaches in a jar and cover them well with the syrup, then seal and store in a cool place.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Peach + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together625 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Peach + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Peaches
The fruit that gives the preserve its main flavour and body.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit by drawing out water.
Brandy
Adds alcohol and aroma, which help the preserve keep and add depth of flavour.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup down thick. Cooking the syrup until it is thick concentrates the sugar, which is what keeps the fruit preserved. A syrup that is too thin can allow the peaches to spoil.

Swap the peach

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, clove, 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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