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Dessert

Peach Jam

A sweet preserve made from ripe peaches, white sugar, and bitter almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Peach and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 466 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Peach Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and stone the ripe peaches.

  2. Mash the peaches in a pan over heat until hot.

  3. Rub the mashed peaches through a sieve.

Make the jam

  1. For each pound of pulp, add a pound of white sugar and ½ ounce of blanched, pounded bitter almonds.

  2. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and skimming well.

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 + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  3. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ripe peaches
Supply the fruit pulp that forms the body and main flavour of the jam.
White sugar
Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, thickens it while helping it keep.
Bitter almonds
Add a distinct nutty, almond-like aroma and flavour to the peach pulp.

The step that matters

Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and skimming well. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit so the jam thickens. Too short a boil leaves it runny; too long can scorch or darken it. Stirring prevents sticking and skimming removes foam for a clear, clean jam.

“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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