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Dessert

English Gum Drops

English Gum Drops are a confection made from sugar, glucose, water, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

English Gum Drops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  2. In a pot, combine sugar, glucose, and 1 pint of water; bring to a boil.

  3. Boil until it reaches 244°F (118°C).

Flavor and fill

  1. Remove from heat, add flavor, color, and the strained gelatin.

  2. Mix well and let it stand for a few minutes.

  3. Skim off any scum that forms.

  4. Use a funnel dropper to fill starch prints.

Finish

  1. Let dry, then remove from starch.

  2. Lightly moisten with gum water or hold over steam briefly, then roll in granulated sugar.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 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

Sugar
Provides the bulk of the sweetness and, once cooked, the firm candy structure.
Glucose
Prevents sugar from crystallizing, keeping the gum drops smooth and tender.
Gelatin
Forms a elastic gel network that gives the gum drops their chewy texture.

The step that matters

Boil to 244°F (118°C). This temperature sets the sugar concentration. Stopping early leaves the drops soft and sticky, while going too far makes them hard and brittle.

“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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