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Dessert

Peppermint Lozenges

A confection made from gum tragacanth, sugar, water, and peppermint essence, formed into lozenges.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 Lozenges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the paste

  1. Soak the gum tragacanth in tepid water for several hours until tender.

  2. Wring the gum in a cloth and work it on a marble slab until very white and elastic.

  3. Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar until the paste is firm and compact.

  4. Add the peppermint essence and mix well.

Cut and dry

  1. Roll out the paste on a surface dusted with sugar instead of flour.

  2. Cut out lozenges using a lozenge cutter or a tin tube the size of a quarter.

  3. Place the lozenges in rows on waxed sheets and let them dry in a warm place.

  4. Rework any trimmings, roll out, and cut into lozenges until all is used.

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. Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Gum tragacanth
Swells in water to form an elastic paste that holds the lozenges' shape.
Confectioners’ sugar
Stiffens the paste as it is worked in, giving the lozenges body and sweetness.
Peppermint essence
Provides the peppermint flavour throughout the paste.

The step that matters

Working the gum until white and elastic. Gum tragacanth must fully hydrate and be kneaded smooth before sugar is added. Under-worked gum stays lumpy and weak, so the paste will crack when rolled and cut cleanly.

“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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