Skip to main content
Dessert

Philadelphia Walnut Candy

A sweet candy made with molasses, walnuts, baking soda, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Walnut and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Philadelphia Walnut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook and stir

  1. Boil the molasses in a pot.

  2. Once done, stir in the walnut meats, baking soda, and butter.

  3. Stir vigorously until the mixture turns white.

Pour and cool

  1. Pour the mixture into buttered tins to cool.

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. Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Molasses + walnuttop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

New orleans molasses
Provides the main sweetness, dark flavor, and sticky body that holds the candy together.
Walnut meats
Add crunchy texture and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft candy.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to release gas, lightening the color and texture of the candy.
Butter
Adds fat for smoother mouthfeel and helps keep the candy from sticking to the tins.

The step that matters

Stir vigorously until the mixture turns white. Vigorous stirring incorporates air and encourages fine sugar crystals to form, which makes the candy opaque and light. Stirring too little leaves it dark and dense, and the baking soda's gas release works best when it is mixed in thoroughly.

Swap the walnut

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, meat, 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

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesMolasses Sponge CakeMolasses Sponge Cake9 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes