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Plain Molasses Candy

Molasses candy made by boiling molasses, sugar, water, and vinegar, then adding butter and pulling the cooled mixture.

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 ↓

Plain Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the syrup

  1. Combine molasses, sugar, water, and vinegar in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture briskly without stirring until it reaches the thread stage, about 30 minutes.

  3. Add a small piece of butter and mix well.

Pull the candy

  1. Once cool enough to handle, begin to pull the candy.

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. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vinegar + buttertop 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 and dark color, and keeps the finished candy soft and chewy.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and the main structure as the syrup cooks and sets.
Vinegar
Its acidity helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing, keeping the candy smooth.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the texture and gives the candy a tender bite.

The step that matters

Boil without stirring to the thread stage. Stirring can knock loose sugar crystals into the syrup, causing grainy candy. Boiling to the thread stage concentrates the sugar enough for the candy to set firm but pullable once cooled.

“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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