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Molasses Taffy

Molasses taffy is a chewy candy made from molasses, butter, brown sugar, vinegar, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar 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 ↓

Molasses Taffy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the candy

  1. In a pot, combine molasses, butter, brown sugar, and vinegar.

  2. Boil the mixture until it hardens when tested in ice water.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.

Pour and pull

  1. Pour into buttered tins and let cool slightly.

  2. Once cool enough, pull the candy with buttered fingers until it turns light in color and becomes too hard to pull.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Molasses + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,253 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

Molasses
Adds deep flavor, dark color, and moisture to the candy.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and the main body of the candy.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid to create gas bubbles that lighten the texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps prevent the sugar from forming large crystals.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy and keeps it from sticking to the pot.

The step that matters

Pulling the candy until it turns light and stiff. Pulling incorporates air, which lightens the color and texture of the candy. Stopping too early leaves it dense and sticky, while waiting until it is too hard to pull sets its final chewy texture.

“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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