Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Combine water, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and peppermint essence in a vessel.
Mix the mixture well for 10 minutes.
Pour one-third of the mixture into a copper gum-dropper.
Heat the dropper on the fire, stirring until it nearly boils.
Remove the dropper from heat.
Immediately add 1 ounce of powdered sugar to the dropper.
Mix the mixture well for 1 minute.
Shape the drops
Prepare two or three sheets of tin on a table.
Hold the dropper by the handle with the lip facing the tin.
Use a larding needle to press the mixture out, dropping small bits the size of a penny, spaced half an inch apart.
Repeat with the remaining mixture until all is used.
Allow the drops to dry for 30 minutes.
Gently lift the drops onto a sheet of paper and place the paper on a tin pan.
Let the drops dry for 24 hours.
Store the drops in a tin box or glass jar until ready to serve.
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 + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 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 bulk of the candy and sets into a hard, brittle drop as it cools.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once stirred in after boiling, helps the mixture stiffen for shaping.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be heated evenly before it thickens.
The step that matters
Stirring in the powdered sugar right after removing from heat. Adding the powdered sugar immediately, while the mixture is still hot, and mixing it well keeps the sugar mass smooth and workable. Waiting lets it cool and stiffen unevenly, making the drops hard to form.
“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.
More peppermint drops recipes
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.