Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Boil for 1 to 2 minutes after it starts bubbling all over; it should string when ready.
Do not stir while boiling.
Remove from heat, add peppermint oil, and beat until it starts to turn slightly white.
Quickly drop the mixture onto marble or buttered paper.
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.
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Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 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
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the candy's structure as it cooks and hardens into a glassy, brittle sheet.
- Peppermint oil
- Supplies the mint flavour and aroma in this candy.
The step that matters
Do not stir while boiling. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup can introduce sugar crystals that spread through the mixture and make the candy grainy instead of smooth and clear.
“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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