Skip to main content
Dessert

Sultana Caramels

A sweet caramel candy made with sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, vanilla, sultanas, and nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Sultana Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add sugar, milk, and molasses; heat to boiling point.

  3. Boil for seven minutes.

  4. Stir in chocolate until melted, then boil for seven minutes longer.

Finish and set

  1. Remove from heat, beat until creamy, then add nuts, raisins, and vanilla.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled, the sugar structure that sets the caramel firm.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the caramel a smooth, tender texture.
Molasses
Adds deep flavor and moisture, and helps the caramel stay chewy.
Milk
Adds moisture and milk solids that contribute to a creamy, chewy texture.
Chocolate
Adds flavor and richness, melting into the boiled mixture.
Sultana raisins
Add chewy sweetness and bits of fruit texture throughout the candy.

The step that matters

Boil for seven minutes. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar, so the caramel sets firm when cooled. Boiling too briefly leaves it soft, while overcooking makes it hard or grainy.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, vanilla, raisin):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Cocoafits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, molasses, butter, chocolate, vanilla, raisin. 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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipes