Name: Pickled Peaches
Ingredients: 1 quart cider vinegar; 4 lbs brown sugar; 3-4 cloves per peach

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Pickled Peaches

Ingredients

1 quart cider vinegar
4 lbs brown sugar
3-4 cloves per peach

Directions

Prepare the syrup

Boil the cider vinegar and brown sugar for a few minutes, skimming off impurities.

Prepare the peaches

Rub off the down from each peach and stick 3-4 cloves into each one.

Pickle and store

Place the peaches in a jar and pour the boiling hot vinegar mixture over them.
Cover the jar and let it stand for a week or ten days.
Pour off the liquid, boil it again, and return it boiling hot to the jar.
Cover the jar again.

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Clove + peachtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together280 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cider + peachtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together90 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Cider + clovetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,683 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 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

Cider vinegar: Provides the acidity that gives the pickling liquid its sharp, preserving character.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and molasses flavour that balances the vinegar's tartness.
Cloves: Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour that infuses into the peaches as they stand.