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Peach Cordial

A peach cordial made by steeping peaches, stones, and kernels in whisky with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peach and whisky work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Peach Cordial

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Wash the peaches.

  2. Cut the peaches from the stones.

  3. Crack half the stones and save the kernels. Leave the other half whole.

Infuse and bottle

  1. Combine the peaches, whole stones, and peach kernels in a wide-mouthed demijohn.

  2. Pour in the whisky and add the sugar.

  3. Cork tightly and let it sit for three months.

  4. Strain and bottle the cordial for use.

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.

  1. Peach + whiskytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25 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. Whisky + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,008 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

Ripe peaches
Provide the main fruit flavour and aroma that the spirit extracts over time.
Double-rectified whisky
Acts as the solvent that draws flavour and aroma out of the fruit and kernels.
Lump sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the strong alcohol and fruit flavour.
Peach kernels
Contribute a subtle almond-like nutty aroma during the long infusion.

The step that matters

Cork tightly and let it sit for three months. A tight seal keeps alcohol and aromatic compounds from evaporating, so the spirit stays strong and flavourful. Sealing also prevents oxidation and spoilage during the long infusion, which lets the extraction proceed slowly and evenly.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against whisky, sugar. 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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