Why it works: Sugar and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,168 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Very Fine Corn Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve gum arabic in water.
Add confectioners' sugar and boil while stirring continuously.
Boil until a small amount cooled in a saucer is very stiff.
Flavor and shape
Flavor the mixture to taste.
Pour the mixture over corn and form into balls.
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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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gum arabic
- Acts as a binder that helps the sugar mixture set firm and hold its shape.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, and stiffens into a coating as the boiled syrup cools.
The step that matters
Boil until the test sample is very stiff. Sugar syrup firms as its water evaporates and its concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves the coating sticky and soft, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle once it cools.
“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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