Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Hard Nut Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine sugar, cold water, and cream of tartar.
Boil the mixture until it turns a dark amber color and becomes brittle when dropped in water.
Set the candy
Layer nut meats in a shallow pan and pour enough syrup over them to cover.
Allow to cool and harden, then break into pieces.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + meattop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,248 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,866 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 base of the syrup that cooks down and hardens into brittle candy.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps keep the sugar syrup smooth and prevents crystallization.
- Nut meats
- Provide the nuts that are set into the candy as the main filling.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until dark amber. Sugar syrup must reach the hard-crack stage to set brittle when cooled. Stopping early leaves a soft, sticky candy, while cooking too long can scorch the sugar and taste bitter.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.