Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Hoarhound Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Combine hoarhound tea, sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Dissolve the mixture over medium heat.
Bring to a hard boil.
Set and cut
Pour the mixture onto a thinly greased plate.
Cut into pieces while hot.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Tea + creamtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together463 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Tea + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,204 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, once boiled, forms the hard, brittle candy structure.
- Hoarhound tea
- Supplies the candy's characteristic herbal flavor and liquid for dissolving the sugar.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent sugar from crystallizing, keeping the candy smooth rather than grainy.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it heats evenly before reaching the hard-boil stage.
The step that matters
Bring to a hard boil. The sugar must reach the hard-crack stage so the candy sets firm and brittle when cooled. Stopping early leaves a soft, sticky result, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and give a bitter taste.
“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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