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Maple Fudge

Maple fudge is a sweet confection made from maple sugar, condensed cream, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Maple Fudge

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Maple Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine maple sugar, condensed cream, and butter.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

  3. Test by dropping a small amount into cold water; it should harden.

  4. Once it hardens, stir until thickened.

  5. If desired, add chopped nuts before pouring.

Set

  1. Pour into greased pans and let cool.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + nutstop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together886 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Maple sugar
Provides the sweetness and maple flavor, and forms the fudge's sugar structure as it cooks.
Condensed cream
Adds richness and creaminess, helping the fudge stay smooth rather than grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Testing in cold water. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration before it is stirred. Testing a small drop in cold water shows whether it has cooked enough to set. Stirring too early or too late can leave the fudge grainy or too soft.

Swap the nuts

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Filbertfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, butter, egg. 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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