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Almond Comfits

Almond comfits are almonds coated with a syrup and gum mixture, then dried.

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 the almonds

  1. Boil the almonds in water to peel them.

  2. Transfer the boiled almonds to cold water.

  3. Place the almonds on sieves to dry in the air.

  4. Finish drying the almonds in a stove.

Make the gum and syrup

  1. Dissolve gum Senegal in water.

  2. Strain the gum solution through a silk sieve.

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

  4. Stir in the gum Senegal.

  5. Remove the syrup from heat.

  6. Keep the syrup warm on a charcoal brazier covered with ashes.

Coat and finish

  1. Place the blanched almonds in the comfit pan.

  2. Coat the almonds with gum twice, drying well each time.

  3. Give the almonds a small charge of syrup.

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 confection's core; their size and dryness determine how evenly the coating builds.
Gum senegal
Forms a thin, smooth film over each almond that the syrup layers can adhere to.
Syrup
Builds the hard, sweet sugar shell around each almond as it dries in layers.

The step that matters

Drying between gum coats. Each coat must dry thoroughly before the next is applied; moisture trapped under the film can cause uneven layers or a sticky, dissolving surface.

“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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