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Peppermint Lozenges

A chewy peppermint confection made from gumdragon, water, icing sugar, and peppermint essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Peppermint Lozenges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gum

  1. Soak the gumdragon in tepid water for six hours.

  2. Squeeze and wring the soaked gumdragon through a cloth.

  3. On a clean marble slab, work the gum until it is white and elastic.

Make the paste

  1. Gradually mix in the icing sugar.

  2. Add the essence of peppermint and cobalt blue while working the paste until smooth and elastic.

  3. Roll out the prepared paste to your desired thickness.

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 + pepperminttop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,082 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

Gumdragon
Forms the elastic base that holds the paste together and gives the lozenges their chewy structure.
Icing sugar
Adds sweetness and bulk, stiffening the gum into a workable paste that sets firm.
Tepid water
Softens the gumdragon so it can be wrung out and worked into a smooth, pliable mass.

The step that matters

Working the paste until smooth and elastic. Gumdragon only becomes elastic when it is kneaded thoroughly. Adding icing sugar too quickly or stopping early leaves a crumbly, lumpy paste that will not roll out evenly or hold its shape.

“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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