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Cocoanut Fudges

A sweet coconut fudge made by boiling sugar, butter, cream, and vanilla, then adding shredded coconut and setting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Fudges

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fudge base

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, butter, cream, and vanilla extract.

  2. Boil the mixture until it reaches the soft ball stage.

  3. Just before removing from heat, stir in the shredded coconut.

Set and cut

  1. Allow to cool until it hardens, then pour into buttered pans.

  2. Cut into squares once set.

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. Vanilla + coconuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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
Sweetens the fudge and, as it cooks, sets the firm, smooth body.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and smooth mouthfeel.
Cream
Adds moisture and dairy richness, keeping the fudge creamy rather than brittle.
Shredded coconut
Adds chewy texture and coconut flavor throughout the fudge.

The step that matters

Boiling to the soft ball stage. The sugar concentration reached while boiling determines the final firmness. Stopping too early leaves the fudge soft and runny, while cooking too long makes it hard and grainy.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, cream, vanilla):

  1. Strawberryfits about as well
  2. Coconutthe original
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, cream, vanilla. 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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