Name: Black Walnut Brittle
Ingredients: 2 lbs glucose; 3 lbs sugar; 1 pt water; 1.5 lbs black walnut meats; 1 teaspoon salt

Why it works: Walnut and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Black Walnut Brittle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brittle

In a kettle, combine glucose, sugar, and water.
Heat and stir until dissolved.
Cook the mixture to 260°F (127°C).
Add black walnut meats and salt.
Continue cooking to 290°F (143°C).

Shape and finish

Pour onto a greased slab and spread thin with a palette knife.
Wearing gloves, turn the batch upside down and stretch it thin.
Once cool, break into pieces.

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.

Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,035 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,147 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,866 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

Glucose: Resists crystallization, keeping the candy smooth and brittle rather than grainy.
Sugar: Provides the sweet base and, once cooked to temperature, sets into a hard, brittle glass.
Black walnut meats: Adds crunch and a strong nutty flavor that contrasts with the sweet candy.

The step that matters

Cooking to 290°F (143°C) after adding the walnuts. Sugar syrup hardens into brittle only at high concentration; stopping early leaves a sticky, chewy candy. Cooking to the target temperature removes enough water so the brittle sets firm and snaps cleanly when cool.