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Almond Comfits

Almond comfits are almonds coated in a sugar syrup and gum, then dried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Almond Comfits

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Boil the almonds in water to peel them, then transfer to cold water and dry on sieves.

  2. Finish drying the almonds in a 300°F (150°C) oven.

Make the gum and syrup

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

  2. Boil the syrup to a strong thread and add the gum Senegal.

  3. Place the syrup on a low heat to maintain an even temperature.

Coat the almonds

  1. In a comfit pan, add the blanched almonds and coat with gum, drying them well each time.

  2. Add syrup in six increments, increasing the amount each time, and rub the almonds to prevent sticking.

  3. Sift the almonds every tenth charge to remove sugar dust.

  4. Once the comfits are the desired size, transfer them to a sieve and let them dry in the oven until the next day.

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. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. 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

Jordan almonds
Form the core that the sugar shell builds up around.
Syrup
Forms the crisp, sweet sugar shell as it dries in thin layers.
Gum senegal
Binds the sugar layers so they adhere evenly to each almond.

The step that matters

Adding syrup in gradual increments. Sugar must dry between thin layers; adding too much syrup at once makes the coating uneven, sticky, or clumped, so each addition should be small and the almonds rubbed to keep them separate.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, sugar):

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Pistachiofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar. 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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