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Dessert

Molasses Candy

A sweet treat made from molasses, brown sugar, butter, and leavening agents.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. In a saucepan, combine molasses, brown sugar, and butter.

  2. Boil for twenty minutes.

  3. Add cream of tartar, baking soda, and vinegar.

  4. Stir well and pour into a buttered dish.

Cool and pull

  1. Let cool until it is safe to pull.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the main flavour and dark colour, and adds moisture and chewiness to the candy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as the sugars cook down.
Cream of tartar
Acidity that helps keep the sugar smooth and prevents crystallising.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic mixture to release gas, lightening the candy's texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that works with baking soda to create bubbles and a lighter texture.

The step that matters

Boil for twenty minutes. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugars so the candy sets firm. Too short a boil leaves it soft and sticky, while overcooking can make it hard and bitter.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, cream, vinegar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, cream, vinegar. 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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