Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat as soon as it boils, stirring constantly.
Add peppermint essence and drop the candy onto an oiled surface.
Pour from the spout of the pan to prevent graining before molding.
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.
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Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 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
- Sugar
- Forms the hard, glassy body of the candy as the syrup cools and sets.
- Peppermint essence
- Adds the minty aroma and flavor that define the candy.
The step that matters
Pour from the spout of the pan. Sugar syrup grows grainy when crystals form. Crystals cling to the pan's sides and edges, and pouring from the spout avoids spreading them into the batch before molding.
“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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