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Dessert

Seafoam Candy

A sweet candy made with sugar, Karo syrup, egg whites, and minced nut meats.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Seafoam Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Dissolve the brown sugar in hot water.

  2. Add the Karo syrup and boil until a drop in cold water hardens.

Whip and finish

  1. Beat the egg whites until very stiff.

  2. Pour the candy mixture slowly over the egg whites while beating continuously.

  3. Add the minced nut meats and vanilla, then beat until the mixture holds its shape.

  4. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.

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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Light brown sugar
Provides the sweetness and caramel flavor that defines the candy.
Karo syrup
Keeps the sugar syrup smooth by discouraging large crystals from forming.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the candy its light, airy texture.
Nut meats
Add crunch and body to the candy.

The step that matters

Pour the candy mixture slowly over the egg whites while beating continuously. Pouring hot syrup in a thin stream while beating lets it blend evenly into the foam. Pouring too fast or stopping the beater can deflate the whites or cook them unevenly, leaving the candy dense or grainy.

“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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