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
Prepare
Sift the sugar through a coarse sieve, then through a fine silk sieve to remove fine sugar dust.
In a small round-bottomed sugar boiler, combine the water and flavoring with the sugar.
Cook and shape
Heat the mixture gently, ensuring the sugar does not burn or discolor.
Once the sugar is fully dissolved, drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper to cool and harden.
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
- Loaf sugar
- Forms the hard, glassy candy structure as it dissolves and cools.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be heated evenly without scorching.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture gently. Sugar darkens and can scorch if overheated, giving a burnt flavour and colour. Gentle heat dissolves the crystals evenly first, so the syrup cooks clear and the drops harden pale and smooth.
“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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