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Dessert

Peanut Candy I

A candy made by boiling sugar, water, and molasses, then adding peanuts and cooling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Peanut Candy I

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, and molasses.

  2. Boil until the mixture hardens when dropped in cold water.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut meats.

Cool and cut

  1. Spread the mixture onto a surface to cool.

  2. Once cooled, cut into squares.

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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Peanut + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled, sets into a firm, brittle candy.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavor and color, and helps keep the candy from crystallizing too readily.
Peanut meats
Supply the nutty flavor and crunchy texture throughout the candy.

The step that matters

Boil until the mixture hardens when dropped in cold water. Sugar candy sets according to its final temperature, which controls how much water remains. Boiling too short leaves a soft, sticky candy that will not hold its shape; boiling too long makes it hard enough to break teeth or scorch.

Swap the peanut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, meat. 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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