Name: Canned Peaches
Ingredients: 1 peck large clingstone peaches; 3 pounds sugar; 1 pint vinegar; water (as needed)

Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Canned Peaches

Ingredients

1 peck large clingstone peaches
3 pounds sugar
1 pint vinegar
water (as needed)

Directions

Prepare

Pour boiling water over the peaches to remove the fuzz.

Make the syrup

Make a syrup by combining sugar and vinegar in a pot, adding water if needed to cover the peaches.
Cook the syrup until it is pretty soft.

Can

Can the peaches as usual.

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.

Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Peach + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together348 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 is packed and preserved in the syrup.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and body to the syrup.
Vinegar: Adds acidity to the syrup, giving the preserved peaches a tangy flavor.