Name: Peach Ice Cream
Ingredients: 3 pints cream; 2½ cups sugar; 1 quart fresh peaches; 2 egg whites

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Peach Ice Cream

Ingredients

3 pints cream
2½ cups sugar
1 quart fresh peaches
2 egg whites

Directions

Prepare the base

Pare the peaches, cut them into small pieces, and mix with 1 cup of sugar.
Dissolve the remaining sugar in the cream.
Add the beaten egg whites to the cream mixture.

Churn and set

When ready to churn, stir in the peaches thoroughly.
Pack the mixture down and let it stand until ready to serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + peachtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together721 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cream: Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body to the frozen dessert.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and keeps the ice cream softer when frozen.
Fresh peaches: Supply the main fruit flavor and moisture in the finished ice cream.
Egg whites: Add structure and airiness to the cream mixture.