Skip to main content
Dessert

Preserved Peaches

Peaches preserved in sugar syrup with optional stones.

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 ↓

Preserved Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Dip peaches in boiling water for a moment, then remove skins and cut peaches in halves.

  2. Weigh the fruit.

  3. Measure out an equal weight of sugar, or ¾ as much for a less rich preserve.

Make the syrup and cook the peaches

  1. Combine ¼ of the sugar with twice as much boiling water in a pot and boil for 5 minutes.

  2. Skim the syrup.

  3. Cook peaches in the syrup a few at a time until tender.

  4. Remove peaches with a skimmer.

Jar and seal

  1. Place the cooked peaches in jars set in hot water.

  2. Add the remaining sugar to the syrup and boil until thickened.

  3. Pour the thickened syrup over the peaches in jars.

  4. Fill jars to overflowing and seal immediately.

  5. Add 2 or 3 peach stones to each jar for added flavor.

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 becomes the preserve, softening during cooking in the syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, at high concentration, helps preserve it by drawing out water.

The step that matters

Cooking the peaches in the syrup a few at a time until tender. Cooking in small batches keeps the syrup at a steady boil and the fruit submerged, so each peach cooks evenly and does not break apart or stop softening.

“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.

You might also like

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