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Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a brittle confection made from molasses, butter, sugar, vinegar, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, butter, and sugar in a Scotch kettle and stir until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until it becomes brittle when tested in cold water.

  3. Stir in vinegar and baking soda.

  4. Pour the mixture into well-buttered pans.

Pull and serve

  1. Once cool enough to handle, pull the candy until it becomes light-colored, using only greased fingertips.

  2. Cut the candy into small pieces with shears.

  3. Arrange the pieces on a buttered platter.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Molasses + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

New orleans molasses
Provides the main body, dark color and rich, sweet flavor of the candy.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy's texture and keeps it from sticking to pans and hands.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture harden into a brittle candy when boiled.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that works with baking soda and keeps the candy from crystallizing too firmly.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid to create gas bubbles that lighten the candy's color and texture.

The step that matters

Boil until brittle in cold water. Boiling must reach the brittle stage, which depends on sugar concentration. Stopping too early leaves a sticky candy that will not set firm, while boiling too long can make it bitter and hard to pull.

“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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