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Dessert

Fig Candy

A candied fig confection made by boiling sugar and water, adding butter, and coating split figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and fig are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,042 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Fig Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar and water.

  2. Boil over low heat until done.

  3. Add a small piece of butter and a few drops of water.

Finish

  1. Pour the mixture over split figs.

  2. Do not boil as hard as for common sugar or molasses candy.

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. Butter + figtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,042 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 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).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Dissolves into the water and sets into the firm, sweet candy as the syrup cooks.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy's texture and gives a smoother, richer finish.
Split figs
Provide the fruit flavour and body that the candy coats and holds.

The step that matters

Boil over low heat. Water evaporates as the syrup cooks, concentrating the sugar until it sets. Boiling too hard raises the sugar concentration too quickly, which can make the candy hard, grainy or cloudy.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figthe original
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter. 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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