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Dessert

Old Fashioned Molasses Candy

Molasses candy made with molasses, sugar, ginger, lime juice, butter, grated coconut, and orange peel, boiled slowly for one and a half hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,621 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Old Fashioned Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine 1 pint molasses, a large teacup of sugar, 1 ounce ginger, 4 tablespoonfuls lime juice, a small piece butter, half a grated coconut, and a little orange peel.

  2. Boil slowly for one and a half hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

115Calories
0 gProtein
12 gFat
4 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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. Ginger + limetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,621 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Ginger + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Lime + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses (in the method)
Provides the dark color, rich flavor, and chewy body of the candy as it cooks down.
Sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture thicken and set as water evaporates.
Lime juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the molasses and sugar.
Coconut (in the method)
Adds fat and texture, contributing chewiness and a tropical flavor.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for one and a half hours. Sugar candy sets by concentrating through evaporation and cooking to the right stage. Boiling too fast or too hot can scorch the molasses and sugar, leading to bitter flavor, while stopping early leaves the candy soft and sticky.

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, butter):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, butter. 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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