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 ↓
Candy of Any Flavor
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a large kettle, combine the sugar, water, and cream of tartar.
Boil over a brisk fire, ensuring it does not burn by applying heat to the bottom only.
After 15 minutes, remove a small portion with a spoon and cool it in a saucer set in ice water.
When cool enough, check if it 'threads' when pulled apart; if so, regulate the heat carefully.
Test frequently by dropping a bit into cold water; if it hardens and snaps, it's done.
Flavor and shape
Remove from heat and stir in your desired flavoring.
Pour into lightly greased shallow earthen dishes and cool until manageable.
Pull and roll into sticks or any desired shape.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Refined sugar
- Forms the bulk of the candy and sets into a firm, brittle structure as it cools.
- Cream of tartar
- An acid that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing, keeping the candy smooth.
The step that matters
Testing the syrup's stage. Sugar syrup changes quickly near the end of cooking, and if it is taken off too early it stays soft and sticky, while too late it burns or turns hard. Frequent cold-water tests catch the moment it hardens and snaps.
“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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