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Dessert

Fruit Candy

A candy of grated coconut, sugar, raisins, almonds, pecans and walnuts, cooked, layered and cut into bars and squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Fruit Candy

Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fruit Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the coconut syrup

  1. Grate the coconut very fine.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and coconut milk.

  3. Heat slowly.

  4. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes.

  5. Add the grated coconut.

  6. Boil for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

  7. Test a small amount on a cold plate. If it forms a firm paste when cool, remove from heat.

Layer and set

  1. Pour part of the mixture into a large tin lined with greased paper.

  2. To the remaining mixture, add the raisins, almonds, pecans, and walnuts.

  3. Pour this over the first layer and let cool.

  4. Once cool, cut into bars and squares.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Almond + walnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

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

  2. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Pecans + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Coconut + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Sweetens the candy and, as it cooks down, helps it set into a firm paste.
Coconut
Adds moisture and flavour, and its grated pieces give the candy body.
Almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour to the layer of mixed nuts and fruit.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness to the upper layer.

The step that matters

Test the firm paste on a cold plate. Sugar syrup firms as it cools and loses water. Removing it too early leaves a soft candy that will not hold its shape, while boiling too long makes it hard and brittle.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, sugar, almond, pecans, walnut):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, sugar, almond, pecans, walnut. 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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