Name: To Pickle Peaches
Ingredients: white solid or clingstone peaches; brine; vinegar; spices; sugar

Why it works: Vinegar and sugar 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 ↓

To Pickle Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Select white solid or clingstone peaches.
Place peaches in brine and let them soak as long as desired.
Occasionally boil the brine and pour it over the peaches.
When ready to use, soak the peaches in clear water to remove salt.
Boil vinegar and add spices and sugar to taste.

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.

Vinegar + sugartop 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).