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 gum
Soak the gumdragon in tepid water for 6 hours, then squeeze and strain through a cloth.
On a clean marble slab, work the gum until it is white and elastic.
Make the paste
Gradually mix in the icing sugar, adding the peppermint and cobalt blue when the paste is smooth and elastic.
Roll out the paste on a sugar-dusted slab to a thickness of about ½ inch.
Use a ribbed rolling pin to imprint a diamond pattern on the surface.
Cut out lozenges with a round cutter and place them on sugar-dusted baking sheets to dry.
Store
Store the dried lozenges in well-stoppered glass jars in a dry place.
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.
-
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
- Gumdragon
- Provides the elastic, binding body that holds the lozenge paste together.
- Icing sugar
- Supplies bulk and sweetness, forming the firm body of the paste.
The step that matters
Working the paste to smooth and elastic before rolling. If the gum and sugar are not fully worked into a smooth, elastic paste, the mixture stays crumbly or lumpy and the lozenges will crack or cut unevenly when rolled and shaped.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.