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 ↓
Cream Peppermints
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the syrup
Boil sugar, water, and glucose until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water.
Remove from heat and let it cool until lukewarm.
Flavor and shape
Flavor with peppermint oil and beat until thick.
Drop spoonfuls onto buttered paper.
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 candy's body and sweetness as its concentration rises during boiling.
- Glucose
- Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the candy smooth rather than grainy.
- Peppermint oil
- Provides the characteristic minty aroma and flavor.
The step that matters
Boil to the soft ball stage. Sugar concentration set during boiling determines the candy's final texture. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes it 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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