Name: Everton Taffy, or Butter-scotch
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 2 cups dark molasses; 1 cup cold butter; grated rind of ½ lemon

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 ↓

Everton Taffy, or Butter-scotch

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 cups dark molasses
1 cup cold butter
grated rind of ½ lemon

Directions

Make the taffy

Combine sugar, molasses, butter, and lemon rind in a saucepan.
Boil over low heat until the mixture hardens when dropped in cold water.

Pour and mark

Pour the mixture thinly into well-buttered tins.
Mark into 1-inch squares before it cools.

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,123 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Sugar: Provides sweetness and, as it cooks and cools, sets the candy's firm, brittle structure.
Dark molasses: Adds deep flavor, dark color, and a chewy texture through its moisture and sugars.
Cold butter: Adds fat that softens the set candy and gives it a richer, smoother bite.
Lemon rind: Contributes bright aroma and a light citrus note that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Boiling until it hardens in cold water. Sugar candy's texture depends on how far the syrup is cooked. Stopping too early leaves taffy sticky and soft, while cooking too long makes it hard, brittle, or scorched.

Swap the lemon

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, 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.

Lemon Cake228 recipes

Lemon Ice147 recipes

Lemon Sherbet103 recipes

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

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Everton Taffy, or Butter-scotch