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Dessert

Peppermint Lozenges

A sweet, peppermint‑flavored confection made from egg white, sugar, water, and peppermint oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Peppermint Lozenges

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the egg white with water until stiff.

  2. Gradually beat in pulverized sugar until thick.

  3. Add peppermint oil and mix well.

Shape and dry

  1. Sift powdered sugar onto a marble slab or large platter.

  2. Knead the mixture, adding more sugar if needed.

  3. Roll out the mixture with a glass rolling pin or bottle.

  4. Cut into small round or square pieces, or roll into small balls.

  5. Place on oiled tins and set in the oven to dry with the door open.

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. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Egg + pepperminttop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together850 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg white
Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the lozenges their light structure.
Pulverized sugar
Sweetens and thickens the foam into a firm mixture that can be kneaded and rolled.
Peppermint oil
Gives the lozenges their mint aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Drying in the oven with the door open. Drying removes moisture so the shaped mixture sets firm rather than staying sticky. Keeping the door open lets moist air escape, which helps the pieces dry through instead of softening.

Swap the peppermint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Peppermintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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