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Brandy Peaches

Peaches preserved in a syrup of sugar, water, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Brandy Peaches

Why it works: Peach and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 339 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Brandy Peaches

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Peel the peaches and immediately place them in cold water.

  2. In a kettle, combine the sugar and water; stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Drain the peaches and add them to the syrup.

  5. Boil the peaches until a straw can be easily inserted through them.

Pack and seal

  1. Pack the peaches into four quart jars, leaving space for syrup.

  2. Add the brandy to the syrup.

  3. Fill the jars to the top with the syrup.

  4. Seal the jars tightly and set aside.

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.

  1. Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Peaches
Provide the fruit and flavor that make up the bulk of the preserve.
Sugar
Forms the syrup that sweetens the peaches and helps preserve them.
Brandy
Adds alcohol and aroma, contributing to the flavor of the preserved peaches.

The step that matters

Boil the peaches until a straw can be easily inserted through them. Boiling softens the peach flesh and lets the syrup penetrate. Undercooked peaches stay firm and may not absorb the syrup well, while overcooking breaks them down.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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