Why it works: Almond and peach 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 ↓
Cherry Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the stalks of the cherries.
Combine cherries, sugar, bitter almonds, and peach leaves in a bottle, then fill the bottle with brandy.
Steep
If using Morello cherries, pour off the liquor after three months and add more brandy.
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.
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Almond + peachtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together339 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Almond + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,969 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and colour that the brandy takes on during steeping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the fruit and the spirit.
- Bitter almonds
- Contribute a distinct almond aroma and bitter edge to the finished liqueur.
- Peach leaves
- Add a subtle, fragrant aroma that complements the cherry flavour.
- Brandy
- Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour from the fruit and leaves, and preserves the mixture.
The step that matters
Pouring off the liquor at three months. Brandy steeped with fruit and leaves keeps extracting flavour over time. Removing the liquor at the set point stops the infusion from becoming overly bitter or heavy from the plant material.
“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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