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Cocoanut Cream Candy

A sweet candy made by boiling coconut milk and sugar, then adding grated coconut and cooling to set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Cocoanut Cream Candy

Why it works: Coconut and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,648 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cocoanut Cream Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the mixture

  1. Combine the coconut milk and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Heat slowly until the sugar is melted.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the grated coconut.

  5. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the mixture onto buttered plates.

  2. Let it cool.

  3. Cut into squares after 2 days to harden.

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.

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.

  1. Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Coconut + meattop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together185 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Coconut + sugartop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Coconut milk
Provides fat and moisture that give the candy its rich body and creamy flavour.
Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and, as water evaporates, thickens and firms the mixture as it sets.
Finely grated coconut meat
Adds texture and chew, and absorbs liquid as the mixture cooks down.

The step that matters

Boil for 10 minutes while stirring constantly. As water evaporates, the sugar and coconut mixture thickens and can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Constant stirring keeps it from sticking and burning, which would give a bitter taste.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, meat):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Coconutthe original
  4. Raisinfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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