Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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
Prepare
Grease a kettle well.
Cook the syrup
Combine molasses and sugar in the kettle over medium heat.
Stir constantly for about 20 minutes until it boils.
Once done, add the baking soda while still foaming.
Set and serve
Pour into tins and set aside to cool.
You can pull the candy or leave it as is.
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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Molasses + sugartop 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
- Molasses
- Provides the dark color, rich flavor and body of the candy as it cooks down.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the candy firm up as it cools.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the hot syrup to foam, making the candy light and porous.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda. Baking soda reacts vigorously with the hot, acidic molasses syrup. It should be added once the mixture has boiled and is still foaming, so the reaction spreads evenly and the candy becomes light rather than dense.
“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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