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Dessert

Brandy Peaches

Peaches preserved in a syrup of sugar, water, and brandy, then jarred for storage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Brandy Peaches

Why it works: Peach and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 339 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Brandy Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Weigh the peaches and note the weight.

  2. In an iron pot, mix cooking soda with cold water and heat until scalding hot.

  3. Add 12 peaches at a time to the hot water for 5 minutes, then remove with a skimmer into a colander.

  4. Rub off the skins with a dry, coarse linen cloth.

  5. Place the peaches in a large pan of cold water.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. In a preserving kettle, combine sugar and water, and heat until dissolved.

  2. Drain the peaches and add them to the syrup, turning occasionally and skimming any foam.

  3. Cook slowly until the peaches are soft enough for a silver fork to pierce easily.

  4. Transfer the peaches to flat porcelain dishes.

  5. Reduce the syrup by half, skimming as needed.

  6. Remove the peaches from heat.

Finish with brandy and jar

  1. Let the peaches cool for 10 minutes.

  2. Stir in the brandy.

  3. Return the peaches to the brandy syrup, heat gently without boiling.

  4. Fill glass jars with peaches and syrup, ensuring the syrup covers the peaches.

  5. Seal the jars 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

  3. 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

White heath cling peaches
Provide the fruit that softens in syrup and carries the flavor of the dish.
White granulated sugar
Sweetens the dish and thickens the syrup that coats and preserves the fruit.
Cooking soda
Its alkaline hot bath loosens the skins so they rub off easily.
White brandy
Adds alcohol-based aroma and flavor to the peaches and syrup.

The step that matters

Return the peaches to the brandy syrup without boiling. Gentle heat keeps the peaches intact and tender instead of breaking them down, and it preserves the brandy's aroma, which boiling would drive off.

Swap the peach

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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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