Name: Pickled Peaches
Ingredients: 7 pounds peeled peaches; 3.5 pounds sugar; 2 quarts vinegar; cloves

Why it works: Peach and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 280 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickled Peaches

Ingredients

7 pounds peeled peaches
3.5 pounds sugar
2 quarts vinegar
cloves

Directions

Prepare

Stick cloves into the peeled peaches.
Scald the vinegar.
Pour the scalded vinegar over the peaches.

Steep and cook

Let the peaches stand for nine days.
After nine days, cook the peaches in the vinegar for twenty minutes.

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.

Peach + clovetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together280 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 softens and absorbs the flavors of the vinegar and spices.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the pickle its sharp flavor and helps preserve the fruit.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cloves: Add warm, aromatic spice flavor to the peaches.