Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the paste
Scrape the chocolate into a powder.
Combine the powdered chocolate with the sugar.
Moisten the mixture with clear water.
Work the paste until it reaches the right consistency.
Shape and use
Use all the prepared paste at once; do not reheat it.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 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
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and most of the bulk of the paste.
- Chocolate
- Adds flavor and cocoa butter, which firms as the paste cools and sets.
The step that matters
Work the paste to the right consistency, then use it without reheating. Moisture and sugar must be evenly mixed into the powdered chocolate to form a workable paste. Reheating can melt the cocoa butter and change how the paste sets, leaving the drops with an uneven texture.
“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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