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Dessert

Fruit Candy

Fruit candy made from coconut, sugar, raisins, almonds, pecans, and walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Fruit Candy

Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fruit Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coconut syrup

  1. Remove the milk from the coconut and set aside.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and coconut milk, and heat slowly.

  3. Once heated, boil rapidly for 5 minutes.

  4. Add finely grated coconut and boil for an additional 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Test a small amount on a cold plate; if it cools to a firm paste, it's done.

Layer and set

  1. Pour half of the mixture onto a plate lined with greased paper.

  2. To the remaining mixture, add the raisins, blanched almonds, pecans, and walnut meats, all chopped coarsely.

  3. Pour this mixture over the first layer of coconut.

  4. Allow to cool, then cut into bars.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Almond + walnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Coconut + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Sweetens the candy and, as it cooks, thickens into a firm, sliceable mass.
Coconut
Adds moisture and body to the candy, forming the first layer and flavouring the syrup.
Almonds
Add crunch and nutty texture to the upper layer.
Pecans
Add crunch and rich, buttery flavour to the upper layer.
Raisins
Add chewiness and concentrated sweetness to the upper layer.

The step that matters

Testing the cooked mixture on a cold plate. Sugar syrup sets firm only once it has boiled to the right concentration. Undercooked syrup stays soft and sticky, while overcooking makes the candy hard and brittle, so the cold-plate test shows when it is ready.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, sugar, milk, almond, meat, walnut):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, sugar, milk, almond, meat, walnut. 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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