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Dessert

Fig Candy

Fig Candy is a sweet made by boiling sugar and water, adding figs, butter, and optionally ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 208 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Fig Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and water in a pot.

  2. Boil slowly for 20-30 minutes.

  3. Test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; if it hardens, it is done.

  4. If desired, add a few drops of vinegar.

  5. Add a lump of butter.

  6. Pour the mixture into buttered pans with slices of figs laid inside.

Make the taffy

  1. Melt ¼ pound of butter in a pot.

  2. Stir in 1 pound of brown sugar.

  3. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Add 1 tablespoon of ground ginger.

  5. Boil and stir again.

  6. Pour the taffy into buttered tins.

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. Fig + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together208 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + figtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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

Sugar
Forms the sweet syrup base that sets into the candy's firm body.
Butter
Adds fat for a softer, richer texture and smoother bite.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and molasses flavour, deepening the colour of the candy.
Figs
Supply fruity flavour and chewy texture inside the candy.
Ground ginger
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the candy.

The step that matters

Test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water. Sugar syrup sets according to how far its water has boiled off. Testing in cold water shows whether it has reached the firm stage, so the candy neither stays sticky nor turns brittle.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, fig. 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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