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Crystallized or Candied Sugar

A process for making crystallized sugar using clarified syrup and wine spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Crystallized or Candied Sugar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Prepare a round mold, smaller at the bottom than the top, with holes pierced around the sides.

  2. Paste paper around the outside to prevent syrup from leaking.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil clarified syrup to the degree of crystallization (feather stage).

  2. Add spirit of wine.

  3. Remove from heat and let it rest until a thin skin forms on the surface.

  4. Carefully remove the skin with a skimmer.

  5. Pour the syrup into the mold.

Crystallize and drain

  1. Place the mold in a warm area (90°F) for 8-9 days or at 100°F for half that time.

  2. Make a hole to drain off excess sugar into a pan below.

  3. Let it drain for about 12 hours.

Release and dry

  1. Wash off the paper from the mold with warm water.

  2. Warm the mold evenly near the fire.

  3. Turn the mold upside down.

  4. Strike it on the table to release the sugar.

  5. Place the sugar on a stand or sieve in a warm area (120°F) until completely dry.

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. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Syrup + spirittop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together141 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Syrup + winetop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together381 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Clarified syrup
Forms the sugar mass that crystallizes into the finished candy as it cools and dries.
Spirit of wine
Added to the boiling syrup, it helps keep sugar from crystallizing too early in the mass.

The step that matters

Boil to the feather stage before pouring. If the syrup is under-boiled it stays too wet and may not set into crystals, while over-boiling makes it too stiff to pour and crystallize evenly. Reaching the right concentration controls how the sugar crystallizes.

“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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