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Almond Comfits

Almond comfits are candied almonds coated in a syrup and gum mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and syrup work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 746 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Almond Comfits

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the almonds in water to peel them, then transfer to cold water.

  2. Dry the almonds on sieves in the air, then finish drying in a warm oven.

  3. Dissolve gum Senegal in water and strain through a silk sieve.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the syrup until it reaches a strong thread consistency.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of gum Senegal to the syrup and remove from heat.

  3. Place the syrup on a low heat source to maintain warmth.

Coat the almonds

  1. Put the blanched almonds in a comfit pan and add two charges of gum, drying well each time.

  2. Add a small charge of syrup, ensuring not to over-moisten the almonds.

  3. Gradually add syrup in six increments, increasing the amount each time.

  4. On the eighth addition, mix half gum and half syrup.

  5. Rub the almonds with your left hand to ensure even coating and prevent sticking.

  6. Continue until the comfits reach the desired size, sifting every tenth charge to remove sugar dust.

  7. Wash the pan if it becomes very rough.

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. Almond + syruptop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together746 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

Almonds
Form the crunchy core that the thin sugar layers build up around.
Syrup
Forms the sweet, hard sugar shell as it dries in thin layers.
Gum senegal
Helps the syrup coat evenly and stay smooth, so layers adhere rather than crystallize unevenly.

The step that matters

Adding syrup in small charges and drying between them. Too much moisture at once dissolves the sugar coating and makes the almonds sticky and clumped. Drying each thin layer lets the sugar crystallize into a smooth, even shell.

“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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