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Dessert

Peppermint Lozenges

A sweet, peppermint‑flavored confection made from gumdragon, icing sugar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 gum

  1. Soak the gumdragon in tepid water for six hours, then squeeze and wring it through a cloth.

  2. Work the prepared gum on a clean marble slab until it is white and elastic.

Make the paste

  1. Gradually mix in the icing sugar, adding the peppermint when the paste is smooth and elastic.

  2. Add a few drops of cobalt blue to achieve a brilliant whiteness.

Shape and dry

  1. Roll out the paste on a sugar-dusted slab to a thickness of about ½ inch.

  2. Use a ribbed rolling pin to imprint a diamond pattern on the surface.

  3. Cut out lozenges with a round cutter and place them on sugar-dusted baking sheets to dry.

Store

  1. Store the lozenges in well-stopped glass jars in a dry place.

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

Gumdragon
Forms the elastic base that gives the paste its body and holds the shape of the lozenges.
Icing sugar
Adds sweetness and bulk, stiffening the gum paste so it can be rolled and cut.
Tepid water
Softens the gumdragon so it can be worked into a smooth, pliable paste.
Peppermint essence
Gives the lozenges their characteristic minty aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Work the gum until smooth and elastic before adding the sugar. Gum that is not fully softened and worked stays lumpy and brittle, so the icing sugar cannot blend evenly and the paste will crack when rolled.

“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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