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Dessert

Date, Ginger and Nut Candy

A candied mixture of dates, ginger, nuts, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Date, Ginger and Nut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Fill the dates

  1. Remove stones from dates, chop equal measures of candied ginger, hickory nuts, pecans or almonds. Mix with fondant, enough to hold together. Fill open space of dates. Press together, roll in coarse granulated sugar.

Cook the candy

  1. Put sugar and milk on to cook and stir constantly. When it begins to boil, add maple syrup and cook until soft ball stage, add vanilla and butter, remove from fire. Let stand a few minutes. Beat until creamy, add flavoring and nuts. Drop by spoonfuls on oil paper.

Make the fondant

  1. Put sugar and water on fire and stir until it begins to boil. Take out spoon and with a brush dipped in cold water wash down sides to keep the sugar crystals from forming. Cover and boil five minutes. Put in cream tartar, cook until soft ball stage, by thermometer '238 degrees. When ready, turn out on marble slab dampened with water. Let stand until a dent can be made on surface. Then work the candy back and forth with wooden spatula to a white, smooth, creamy paste; knead with hands all together and put in earthen bowl, cover closely with damp cloth, put in cool place twenty-four hours. The fondant is not perfect when granular. Water can be added and cooked again.

Cook and shape

  1. Cook sugar and gelatine mixture until sugar threads form and the mixture hardens; spread on marble with powdered sugar.

  2. Cook sugar and milk until it forms a soft ball between the fingers, when tried in cold water. Do not stir after it begins to boil. Remove from fire, add butter, letting it melt on top. When the outside of the saucepan feels cool, begin to beat the candy, adding nuts and flavoring. Beat until creamy and turn into buttered pan. If beaten too long, it will harden before it can be turned into the pan; in this case, a little more milk may be added to dissolve the sugar and make over; when cool, cut in squares.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

461Calories
9 gProtein
30 gFat
40 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Maple Syrup1 tbsp (20ml)52
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Pecan1 half (4g)20
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Waternot in our table0
Nutsnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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. See the original page.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Vanilla + nutstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together638 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Vanilla + pecanstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,691 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Light brown sugar
Provides sweetness and a caramel flavor while helping set the candy's texture.
Sugar
Forms the crystal structure of the candy, so controlled cooking determines whether it turns smooth or grainy.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softness, giving the candy a tender, fudge-like body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender bite.
Pecans
Add crunch and contrast to the soft, creamy candy.
Cream of tartar
Its mild acidity helps keep sugar crystals small and the candy smooth.

The step that matters

Beat the candy only after it cools, and do not stir while it boils. Stirring during boiling or beating too early encourages sugar crystals to form, making the candy grainy. Letting it cool first helps it turn creamy.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vanilla, pecans, milk, maple syrup, butter, sugar, cream):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Hazelnutfits about as well
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vanilla, pecans, milk, maple syrup, butter, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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