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Gum Paste

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,168 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Gum Paste

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Soak the gum tragacanth in a cup of water for at least 12 hours.

  2. Cover the cup to keep out dust and place it on a warm shelf.

  3. Once dissolved, squeeze the gum through a clean towel by twisting it tightly.

  4. Scrape the gum into a dish and gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing with a paddle or wooden spoon.

  5. Add a drop of liquid blue to whiten the mixture.

  6. Once all the sugar is incorporated, begin adding the corn starch in the same manner.

  7. Knead the paste as it becomes stiff until all the starch is worked in.

  8. The gum paste is now ready for use.

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 + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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