Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Fig Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar.
Boil without stirring until the mixture turns amber in color.
Remove from heat and stir in the cream of tartar just before taking it off the fire.
Coat the figs
Wash the figs, open them, and lay them in a tin pan.
Pour the candy over the figs or dip the figs in the syrup.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,241 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + figtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together523 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the candy's structure and sweetness, and hardens as the syrup cooks and cools.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that helps keep the syrup smooth and discourages sugar from crystallising.
- Figs
- Provide the fruit flavour and the body that the candy is poured over or dipped into.
The step that matters
Boil without stirring until amber. Stirring can trigger sugar crystals that make the syrup grainy, and once the colour turns amber the sugar can burn quickly, so it needs close watching.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Figthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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