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Sugared Almonds

Almonds coated with a sugar syrup that hardens into a powdered coating.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Sugared Almonds

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and dry the almonds.

Make the syrup

  1. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture until it threads, about 8 to 10 minutes.

  3. Test the syrup by dipping a spoon in cold water; if a thread forms when you open your fingers, it is ready.

Coat the almonds

  1. Add the almonds to the syrup and stir occasionally until they turn pale brown.

  2. Remove the pan from heat and stir until cool; the syrup will turn to powdered sugar, coating the almonds.

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. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Form the nut base that the sugar coating clings to and browns.
White sugar
Cooks into a syrup that recrystallizes into a sweet, powdery coating on the almonds.

The step that matters

Testing the syrup for the thread stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration before the almonds go in. If it is undercooked, the coating stays sticky and wet. If it is overcooked, it turns brittle, hard, or burnt. The cold-water thread test checks that the syrup is at the correct point.

“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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