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Dessert

Peppermint Drops

A hard candy made from sugar, cream of tartar, and peppermint oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Peppermint Drops

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Moisten one cupful of fine-crushed sugar with boiling water, then boil for five minutes.

  2. Measure cream of tartar and oil of peppermint while the sugar is boiling.

  3. Remove from heat and add cream of tartar the size of a pea; mix well.

  4. Add four or five drops of peppermint oil.

Beat and drop

  1. Beat briskly until the mixture whitens.

  2. Drop quickly onto white paper.

  3. If it sugars before it is all dropped, add a little water and boil for a minute or two.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

281Calories
4 gProtein
19 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Peppermintnot 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Peppermint + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together632 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Sugar
Forms the sweet crystalline body of the candy as the syrup cools and sets.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy texture.
Peppermint oil
Provides the strong peppermint aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Drop quickly onto white paper. As the mixture cools it thickens and begins to crystallize, so it sets fast. Dropping promptly keeps the drops smooth and soft, while delay lets the sugar grain and harden in the pan.

Swap the peppermint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Peppermintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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