Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Stick Candy
Ingredients
Directions
In a large pot, combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water.
Cook the mixture over medium heat until it reaches 330°F (165°C).
Pour the cooked candy onto a slab.
Cut off a small piece and color it red for a stripe.
Keep the red piece warm while you pull the rest of the batch white.
Flavor the white candy on a hook and twist out the air.
Form the white candy into a flat piece, then roll it into a round stick about 18 inches long.
Place six thin narrow stripes and one wide stripe on the batch.
Shape the candy like a wine bottle to start, then pull it out to your desired size.
Have a helper roll out and twist the stick while you pull 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.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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