Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cream Peppermints
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Combine granulated sugar and water in a saucepan.
Cook for a few minutes.
Shape and flavor
Stir in powdered sugar until the mixture is thick enough to mold.
Add 8 drops of oil of peppermint and mix well.
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.
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Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolves in water to form a syrup that cooks down into a firm, sweet candy base.
- Powdered sugar
- Stiffens the cooked syrup so the mixture holds its shape when molded.
- Oil of peppermint
- Provides the main aroma and flavor of the candy.
The step that matters
Stirring in powdered sugar until the mixture is thick enough to mold. Sugar syrup must be thickened gradually. Adding too much powdered sugar at once makes the mixture crumbly and dry, while too little leaves it sticky and unable to hold a shape.
“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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