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Dessert

Fig Candy

A candied fig confection made by boiling sugar and water, optionally with vinegar and butter, poured over fig slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,042 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Fig Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and water in a pot and boil slowly for 20-30 minutes.

  2. Test by dropping a little into cold water; if it hardens, it's done.

  3. If desired, add vinegar and a lump of butter.

Set the candy

  1. Pour the mixture into buttered pans lined with slices of figs, placing more slices on top.

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. Butter + figtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + figtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together243 recipes

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

  5. 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
Forms the candy mass and, as it cooks down, sets into a firm, chewy confection.
Figs
Provide the fruit flavour and sweetness that show through the set candy.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallising.

The step that matters

Testing the syrup for doneness. Sugar syrup firms as its water boils off and its concentration rises. Testing a drop in cold water shows whether it has reached the firm stage, so the candy sets properly instead of staying soft or turning grainy.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, butter):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Figthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, butter. 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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