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Dessert

Pea-nut Candy

A sweet candy made by boiling molasses, brown sugar, butter, and vinegar, then coating peanuts and cutting into blocks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Pea-nut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, brown sugar, butter, and vinegar in a kettle.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Set and cut

  1. Once boiling, pour the candy mixture over the prepared peanuts in buttered pans.

  2. Cut the mixture into blocks while warm.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Vinegar + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together443 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 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

Molasses
Provides the dark color, deep flavor, and sweetness that define the candy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firmly as it cooks.
Peanuts
Supply the crunchy texture and nutty flavor throughout the candy.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil. The mixture must reach a full boil so enough water evaporates for the candy to set firm. Undercooking leaves it sticky, while overcooking can make it brittle or burnt.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, vinegar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, vinegar. 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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