Skip to main content
Dessert

Fig Candy

A sweet treat made by cooking figs in a sugar syrup with vinegar and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

  1. Cook water and sugar over low heat until it forms a crisp ball in cold water.

  2. Add vinegar and butter to the syrup.

  3. Pour the mixture over the cut figs in a greased pan.

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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + figtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together243 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. 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

Figs
Provide the main flavor, sweetness and bulk of the candy.
Sugar
Sweetens and, cooked to a firm stage, sets into a chewy candy as it cools.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps keep the cooked sugar from turning grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a softer, less brittle texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the syrup to a crisp ball. Syrup cooked too little stays sticky and will not set, while syrup cooked too far turns hard or scorches. Low heat and a cold-water test help you stop at the right point, where the sugar sets firmly as it cools.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Strawberryfits about as well
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Figthe original

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

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes