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Dessert

Chocolate Fudge with Fruit

A chocolate fudge made with sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, figs, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 373 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Chocolate Fudge with Fruit

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fudge

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, milk, molasses, and butter.

  2. Boil for 7 minutes.

  3. Stir in chocolate and boil for an additional 7 minutes.

Add the fruit and nuts

  1. Remove from heat and mix in figs, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla.

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. Fig + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together373 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  4. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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 the mixture boils, helps the fudge set firm.
Milk
Adds moisture and a soft, creamy body to the fudge.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, tender texture and rich flavor.
Chocolate
Adds deep chocolate flavor and richness.
Molasses
Adds dark, caramel-like flavor and extra moisture.
English walnuts
Adds crunch and a toasty, nutty contrast to the soft fudge.

The step that matters

Boil for the full 7 minutes, then 7 more after the chocolate goes in. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar, so the boiling time largely determines whether the fudge sets firm or stays soft and sticky.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, fig, raisin):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Walnutthe original
  4. Pecansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, fig, raisin. 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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