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Peanut Candy

A candied peanut confection made with sugar, molasses, water, butter, baking soda, and roasted peanuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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

Make the candy base

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar, molasses, and water.

  2. Add butter and bring to a boil.

  3. Boil until the mixture hardens when tested in cold water.

Finish the candy

  1. Stir in baking soda while on the stove.

  2. Add the halved roasted peanuts and mix well.

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. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it cooks, the hard crystalline structure of the candy.
New orleans molasses
Adds deep flavor and moisture, and helps the candy stay chewy rather than brittle.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother texture to the cooked mixture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot syrup to release gas, lightening the candy's texture and color.
Roasted peanuts
Supply the main body, crunch, and nutty flavor of the candy.

The step that matters

Boil until the mixture hardens when tested in cold water. Sugar syrup sets according to how much water has boiled off and how hot it gets. Stopping too early leaves the candy soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it brittle and possibly scorched.

Swap the peanut

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, egg. 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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