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 ↓
Lemon and Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine 1 pound of sugar with 2 ounces of water to form a stiff paste.
Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously until it nearly boils, but do not let it reach a full boil.
Remove from heat as soon as bubbles indicate boiling is about to start.
Allow the syrup to cool slightly while stirring, then add peppermint or lemon essence to taste.
Form and dry the drops
Tilt the saucepan to pour the mixture onto smooth white paper or tins, using a stiff wire to stroke off drops.
Let the drops dry in a warm place for a few hours.
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
- Dry granulated sugar
- Forms the bulk of the drops and sets into a hard, glassy candy as it cools.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar into a stiff paste that can be heated into a smooth syrup.
The step that matters
Remove from heat as soon as bubbles indicate boiling is about to start. Sugar syrup that goes past this point keeps cooking and gets too concentrated, so the drops can turn brittle or grainy instead of firm and smooth. Stopping early and cooling slightly before adding flavour helps the candy set well.
“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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