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Dessert

Molasses Candy or Taffy

A chewy candy made by boiling molasses and sugar, optionally with walnut kernels.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Candy or Taffy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grease a Dutch oven or iron pot with butter.

Cook the molasses

  1. Pour in the molasses and bring to a fast boil, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.

  2. Add the sugar and continue boiling for another 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Test the mixture by dropping a little onto a plate; if it is brittle, proceed.

Pour and set

  1. If desired, add walnut kernels just before pouring into plates and stir once.

  2. Pour the hot mixture into buttered tin plates.

  3. Let it cool in a cold place, then break it into pieces for use.

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.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Molasses + walnuttop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Forms the base of the taffy and gives it its dark color and rich, sweet flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture harden into a brittle candy as it boils down.
Butter
Used only to grease the pot and plates so the hot candy does not stick.

The step that matters

Testing for brittleness before pouring. Candy made from molasses and sugar only turns brittle once enough water has boiled off and the sugar concentration is high. Pouring too early leaves a sticky, soft result that will not break cleanly into pieces.

Swap the walnut

The recipe marks walnut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, sugar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Walnutthe original
  4. Chestnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, sugar. 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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