Name: Ohio Maple Sugar
Ingredients: 23 lbs granulated sugar; 2 lbs Canadian maple syrup; 3 quarts water

Why it works: Sugar and maple syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,252 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Ohio Maple Sugar

Ingredients

23 lbs granulated sugar
2 lbs Canadian maple syrup
3 quarts water

Directions

Make the syrup

In a kettle, combine the granulated sugar, Canadian maple syrup, and water.
Cook the mixture until it reaches 244°F (118°C).
Remove from heat and let it sit in a tub.

Grain and set

Grain the mixture by stirring and rubbing the sides of the kettle with a paddle.
If necessary, add color.
Once thick, pour into a bucket or pan.
When cold, break it up for sale in bulk.

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.

Sugar + maple syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,252 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar: Forms the bulk of the candy and crystallizes into the final grainy texture.
Canadian maple syrup: Provides the characteristic maple flavor and aroma.
Water: Dissolves the sugars so the mixture can be heated evenly before cooking.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture until it reaches 244°F (118°C). Sugar syrup must reach the target temperature to hold the right concentration. Too little cooking leaves it too runny to set, and too much makes it hard. The temperature controls how much water remains, which determines the final texture.

“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.