Why it works: Sugar and nuts are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,228 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Glaced Fruits and Nuts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare fruits or nuts or jelly before starting the syrup.
Make the syrup and glaze
In a saucepan, boil sugar and water until a candy thermometer registers 290°F (143°C).
Remove from heat and quickly dip prepared fruits into the syrup.
Lay dipped fruits on a marble slab or large platter brushed with olive oil to dry.
Work quickly as the syrup turns color and hardens rapidly.
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.
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Sugar + nutstop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,228 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that hardens into a thin, crisp, glassy coating on the fruits or nuts.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup of controlled concentration.
The step that matters
Dipping while the syrup is at 290°F (143°C). At this temperature the syrup is concentrated enough to set hard as it cools. It turns color and hardens quickly, so dipping must happen fast, before the coating thickens or browns.
“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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