Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Barley Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar in water in a pot over medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a boil until it reaches the 'Ball' stage.
Add lemon juice and continue boiling until it reaches the 'Great Crack' stage.
Shape and store
Pour the mixture onto an oiled marble slab.
Cut the cooled mass into strips.
When nearly cold, twist the strips with your fingers.
Once completely cold, store the strips in closed boxes.
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 + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Loaf sugar
- Forms the glassy candy base as it cooks to a hard, clear set.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be heated evenly without crystallizing at once.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that helps keep the sugar from recrystallizing, giving a smoother candy.
The step that matters
Boiling to the 'Great Crack' stage. Sugar must reach the hard-crack temperature range to set hard and brittle. Stopping early leaves a sticky, chewy result, while overcooking can scorch it and make it bitter.
“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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