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 ↓
Candied Peppermint
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Boil the sugar in water until it begins to candy around the sides of the pan.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the oil of peppermint.
Shape and cut
Pour the mixture into small round molds made of tin or onto a buttered piece of paper.
Use a square frame on the paper to shape the candy, then cut it into desired sizes or shapes once it cools.
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.
-
Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Raw sugar
- Forms the candy base, setting firm and crystalline as the boiled syrup cools.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup before candying.
- Oil of peppermint
- Provides the peppermint flavor, added off the heat so it stays aromatic.
The step that matters
Removing the pan from the heat before adding the peppermint. Oil of peppermint is volatile, and adding it to very hot syrup lets much of its aroma evaporate. Taking the pan off the heat first keeps the flavor strong and the candy from overcooking.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.