Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Honey Comb Chips
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy base
In a large pot, combine sugar, glucose, and water. Cook over medium heat until it reaches 290°F (143°C).
Add molasses and stir, then continue cooking until it reaches 300°F (149°C).
Add a pinch of coarse sea salt and pour the mixture onto a slab.
Pull and shape
Pull the candy until it is pliable, then form it around a club and pull it out to about 4 feet long, folding it side by side three times to create eight holes.
Cut the batch in half and lay the halves side by side to create sixteen holes wide.
Pull the candy out thinly and have a helper cut it into chips as you go.
Finish
Once cooled, break apart the chips and dip them as desired.
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 + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 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
- Sugar
- Forms the crisp, brittle structure of the candy once cooled.
- Glucose
- Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the candy smooth and preventing it from turning grainy.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds depth of flavor and a darker color to the candy.
The step that matters
Reaching the target temperatures. Cooking to 290°F and then 300°F sets the sugar's water content and therefore the final texture. Undercooking leaves the candy sticky, while overcooking makes it bitter and too hard to pull.
“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
Molasses Cookies96 recipes
Molasses Cake90 recipes
Molasses Sponge Cake9 recipes
White Cake431 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.