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Dessert

Orris-root Caramels

A caramel candy made with sugar, gelatin, paraffin wax, cream, glucose, powdered orris root, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Orris-root Caramels

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Mix together the sugar, dissolved gelatine, paraffin wax, cream, and glucose.

  2. Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball when tested in cold water.

  3. Stir in the powdered Orris-root and grated almonds.

Set and cut

  1. Pour the syrup into well-buttered tins and let it cool.

  2. Cut into 1-inch squares and wrap each piece in oiled paper.

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

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

  2. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Sugar + almondtop 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

Sugar
Forms the sweet body of the caramel and, once cooked to a firm ball, sets into a chewy texture.
Gelatine
Gives the cooled caramel body and a softer, chewier set.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the caramel softer and richer in texture.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallisation, keeping the caramel smooth rather than grainy.

The step that matters

Heat to a firm ball stage. Stirring constantly over low heat keeps the sugar from scorching or crystallising. Testing in cold water shows when the syrup has cooked enough to set firm once cooled, so undercooking leaves it soft and overcooking makes it hard.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Hazelnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream. 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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