Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Molasses Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
In a kettle, combine equal parts brown sugar and Orleans molasses.
Bring to a boil, skimming and straining as needed.
Continue boiling until a drop becomes brittle in cold water.
Pour the mixture onto a greased platter.
Pull and shape
Once cool enough, begin to pull the candy by hand or with a hook until it is bright and glistening.
Flour your hands occasionally and shape the candy into sticks.
Clip the sticks to the desired length with shears.
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 + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brown sugar
- Provides the main sweetness and the caramel-like flavor of the candy.
- Orleans molasses
- Adds deep flavor and moisture, and helps the candy turn dark and chewy as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boiling until a drop becomes brittle in cold water. Sugar candy sets according to how much water has boiled off and how hot the syrup gets. Stopping too early leaves a soft, sticky candy that will not hold its shape, while going too far makes it hard and brittle. Testing a drop in cold water shows when the syrup has reached the right concentration.
“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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