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
Make the candy
Mix the molasses and brown sugar in a large pot.
Boil the mixture over moderate heat for 3 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
After 2.5 hours, stir in the lemon juice or essence.
If desired, add grated lemon rind for flavor.
Stir in ground nuts a few minutes before removing from heat.
Add raw blanched almonds after boiling.
Cool and finish
Let the mixture cool until it stops boiling and becomes crisp.
Butter a square tin pan and pour the mixture into it to cool.
To make the candy yellow, pull the warm candy into a string between your hands.
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).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + nutstop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- West india molasses
- Provides the main body, dark color and deep, bittersweet flavor of the candy.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as the mixture cooks down.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sweetness of the molasses.
The step that matters
Boiling and stirring the molasses. Molasses is high in sugar and scorches easily on the bottom of the pot. Frequent stirring over moderate heat prevents burning and keeps the flavor clean.
Swap the nuts
The recipe marks nuts as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, lemon, butter):
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Walnutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, lemon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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