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Dessert

Ryzon Fruit and Nut Fudge

A fudge made with sugar, molasses, cream, butter, chocolate, ginger, dates, walnuts, almonds, lemon and orange extracts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Ryzon Fruit and Nut Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge base

  1. Combine sugar, molasses, cream, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Boil for seven minutes while stirring constantly.

  3. Add grated chocolate.

  4. Boil for seven more minutes.

Add the fruit and nuts

  1. Stir in the chopped fruit, Ryzon, and nut meats.

  2. Stir until it boils.

  3. Cook slowly until it forms a soft ball in cold water or reaches 240°F (115°C) on a candy thermometer.

  4. Remove from heat.

Cool and set

  1. Place the pan in a larger pan of cold water.

  2. Stir until creamy.

  3. Pour into buttered tins.

  4. Mark into squares when half cold.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together302 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  5. Ginger + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the sweet crystalline structure of the fudge as it cooks and sets.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture in the finished fudge.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavour and moisture, and helps keep the fudge soft.
Grated chocolate
Adds richness and a deep chocolate flavour to the fudge.
Walnut meats
Add crunch and nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft fudge.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft fudge.

The step that matters

Cook to the soft-ball stage. Sugar concentration controls the texture. Cooking too little leaves the fudge runny, while cooking too far makes it hard and grainy after cooling.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, cream, butter, chocolate, dates, walnut. 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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