Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Moisten the sugar with peppermint water or flavor it with essence of peppermint.
Add enough water to achieve a workable consistency.
Shape the mixture into drops and allow to dry.
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 + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 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
- Forms the sweet base that sets into firm, crisp drops as it dries.
- Peppermint water or essence of peppermint
- Provides the peppermint flavor that defines the drops.
The step that matters
Add enough water to achieve a workable consistency. Sugar needs just enough moisture to hold its shape when pressed into drops. Too little water leaves the mixture crumbly and unable to form drops, while too much makes it sticky and slow to dry firm.
“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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