Why it works: Chocolate and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape the chocolate into a powder.
Mix 1 ounce of chocolate with 1 pound of sugar.
Moisten the mixture with clear water.
Shape the drops
Work the paste until smooth.
Drop the mixture onto a tin plate using a small pan and wire.
Set and finish
After 2 hours, remove the drops with a knife.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 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
- Chocolate
- Provides the chocolate flavour and the dark colour of the drops.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and bulk, and sets firm as the moistened paste dries.
The step that matters
Getting the paste right. Too much water makes the paste runny so the drops spread out, while too little leaves it crumbly and hard to shape. Working it until smooth helps the drops hold their shape as they set.
“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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