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Dessert

Candy Making

A sweet confection made by boiling sugar and molasses until it hardens into a solid mass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Candy Making

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine water and sugar in a marbleized saucepan.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Test by dropping syrup into a bowl of water.

  4. If it forms a soft ball, remove from heat.

  5. If it is too hard, add water and boil again.

  6. Add a pinch of cream of tartar to prevent crystallization.

  7. Once cooled enough to touch, pull into sticks or a solid mass.

Make the molasses candy

  1. For molasses candy, mix molasses and white sugar.

  2. Boil until it snaps in water.

  3. Add vinegar and baking soda, then stir well.

Pour and cool

  1. Pour into greased platters.

  2. Cool, using a knife to turn edges in for even cooling.

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

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

  2. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  4. Cream + molassestop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,408 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cream + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,064 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Dissolves into syrup that sets into candy as its concentration rises during boiling.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep flavor, and moisture to the finished candy.
Cream of tartar
Its acid helps keep the sugar from recrystallizing into a grainy texture.
Vinegar
Its acid partly breaks down sugar, keeping the candy smoother and softer.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid to release gas, lightening the candy's texture.

The step that matters

Boil until it snaps in water. The candy's texture depends on how far the syrup is boiled. Too little leaves it sticky; too much makes it brittle. Testing in cold water shows the stage, so check often near the end.

“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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