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Dessert

Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a sweet treat made by cooking molasses, sugar, vinegar, butter, and baking soda until it hardens.

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

Cook the molasses

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

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture reaches a boil.

  3. Add baking soda and stir well just before it is done.

  4. Test by dropping a small amount into cold water; if it hardens immediately, it is ready.

Cool and pull

  1. Pour the mixture onto greased plates and set outside to cool.

  2. Begin pulling the candy as soon as possible to prevent it from hardening too much.

Shape and break

  1. Form it into a long stick and break it into short pieces by striking with a knife when 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. 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. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vinegar + buttertop 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

Molasses
Provides the main sweetness, dark color, and deep flavor of the candy.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps set the candy's firm, brittle texture as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing and reacts with baking soda.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid to form gas bubbles that lighten the candy's texture.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the texture and gives a smoother bite.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda near the end. Baking soda reacts with the acid and foams vigorously, so it must be stirred in well just before the candy finishes cooking. Adding it too early lets the foam collapse and the candy lose its light texture.

“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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