Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Maple Nut Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Combine maple sugar and water in a saucepan.
Boil until the mixture becomes brittle when dropped in cold water.
Just before pouring, add vinegar.
Pour and set
Butter the pans and line them with prepared nut meats.
Pour the candy mixture over the nut meats.
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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Vinegar + meattop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,428 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple sugar
- Provides the sweet flavour and forms the body of the candy as it cooks.
- Vinegar
- Adds a small amount of acidity that helps keep the candy smooth and less grainy.
- Nut meats
- Provide texture and crunch in the finished candy.
The step that matters
Boil until the mixture becomes brittle when dropped in cold water. Cooking the sugar to the right stage determines whether the candy sets firm and brittle. Undercooked mixtures stay soft and sticky, while overcooked ones turn bitter and hard.
“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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