Name: Everton Taffy
Ingredients: 5 pounds light 'C' sugar; ½ pound glucose; ¼ pound good butter; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Everton Taffy

Ingredients

5 pounds light 'C' sugar
½ pound glucose
¼ pound good butter
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large pot, combine the sugar, glucose, butter, and salt.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 320°F (160°C) or hardens in water.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly before pulling the taffy.

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.

Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 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: Provides sweetness and the bulk of the candy's structure as it cooks to a hard, set texture.
Glucose: Inhibits crystallization, keeping the taffy smooth and pullable instead of grainy.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender bite and rich flavour, and keeps the pulled candy from sticking as hard.

The step that matters

Cooking to 320°F (160°C) while stirring constantly. Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set into the intended chewy texture. Stirring constantly prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot and encourages even cooking, while avoiding stirring crystals onto the sides helps keep the candy smooth.

“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.