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Molasses Can Dy

A hard candy made from sugar, vinegar, molasses, butter, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Can Dy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the sugar

  1. Combine sugar and vinegar in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture without stirring until it hardens in cold water.

Pour and mix

  1. Pour the mixture into buttered tins.

  2. Mix molasses and butter in a separate bowl.

  3. Stir in baking soda when the mixture is cool.

Pull and cut

  1. Pull the candy and cut it into pieces.

  2. Alternatively, cut into squares without pulling.

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 + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides the main sweetness and the solid structure of the candy as it cooks and sets.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, rich flavor, darker color, and moisture to the finished candy.
Vinegar
Its acidity helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot acidic mixture to release gas, making the candy lighter and more porous.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy's texture and gives it a richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Boil without stirring until it hardens in cold water. Stirring can trigger sugar crystals that make the candy grainy. Cooking to the hard stage, confirmed by the cold water test, sets the candy firm enough to pull or cut cleanly.

“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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