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 Marmalade
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a pot, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam.
Cook the marmalade
Add the chopped peaches to the boiling syrup.
Boil rapidly, mashing the peaches until they are fine.
Continue boiling until the mixture thickens and becomes jellied.
Jar and seal
Pour the marmalade into small jars or tumblers and let cool.
Seal the jars as you would for jellies.
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.
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Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Ripe peaches
- Provide the fruit flavour and, as they break down, the body of the marmalade.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, with boiling, helps it thicken and set into a jelly.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar into a syrup that the peaches cook in.
The step that matters
Continue boiling until the mixture thickens and becomes jellied. Sugar and fruit pectin set only at a high enough concentration, which comes from boiling off water. Stopping too early leaves a runny marmalade, while boiling too long can overcook the sugar and fruit.
“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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