Name: Lemon Taffy
Ingredients: 10 pounds sugar; 6 pounds glucose; ½ pound Nucoa butter; ½ pound butter; 1 gallon cream; 6 ounces gelatin; 1 pint cream

Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Lemon Taffy

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve 6 ounces of gelatin in 1 pint of cream before cooking.
In a large pot, combine 10 pounds of sugar, 6 pounds of glucose, ½ pound of Nucoa butter, ½ pound of butter, and 1 gallon of cream.
Cook the mixture to 252°F (122°C).
Pour the cooked mixture onto a slab.
Once cooled, pull the taffy on a hook.
Place the taffy in a box or pail lined with heavy oiled paper.
When completely cool, turn it out, remove the paper, and break it into pieces for sale.

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.

Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,628 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).