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Peanut Candy

A sweet candy made from sugar, molasses, vinegar, and ground peanuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Peanut Candy

Why it works: Sugar and molasses 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 ↓

Peanut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the mixture

  1. In a large pot, combine the soft white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, and vinegar.

  2. Boil the mixture until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water.

Add peanuts and beat

  1. Remove from heat and stir in the ground peanuts.

  2. Beat the mixture until it becomes creamy.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Sugar + molassestop 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. Vinegar + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together443 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sugar + peanuttop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,545 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Soft white sugar
Provides sweetness and, once cooked, the firm body of the candy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a deeper caramel flavor, and helps keep the candy moist.
New orleans molasses
Adds dark flavor and moisture, and softens the texture of the candy.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy texture.
Ground peanuts
Add nutty flavor and texture to the candy.

The step that matters

Boil to the soft-ball stage. Sugar candy sets according to how far its water has boiled off. Stopping at the soft-ball stage gives a creamy, tender texture. Undercooking leaves it sticky, while overcooking makes it hard and grainy.

Swap the peanut

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

  1. Sesamefits about as well
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, vinegar. 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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