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 ↓
Cocoanut Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the syrup
Combine the sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Finish and shape
Remove from heat and stir in the grated coconut.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto white paper to cool.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + coconuttop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,223 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + coconuttop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,742 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once boiled and cooled, the firm body of the candy.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds mild acidity that helps keep the sugar from crystallizing coarsely, for a smoother texture.
- Grated coconut
- Adds coconut flavor, fat, and a chewy texture to the candy.
The step that matters
Boil for 10 minutes. Boiling concentrates the sugar syrup, and the amount of water boiled off determines how firm the candy sets as it cools. Too little boiling leaves it soft and sticky, while too much makes it hard and brittle.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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