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Dessert

Ginger, Candied

Candied ginger is ginger preserved in sugar syrup until it becomes hard, brittle, and white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Ginger, Candied

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a preserving pan, combine grated ginger, sifted sugar, and enough water to dissolve the sugar.

  2. Stir over low heat until the sugar begins to boil.

  3. Add another pound of sugar, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Set and dry

  1. Remove from heat and drop onto earthen dishes.

  2. Place dishes in a warm area to dry until the candies are hard, brittle, and white.

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. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

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

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 candy and, as it thickens and dries, sets into hard, brittle pieces.
Ginger
Supplies the spicy flavor and aroma that define the candy.

The step that matters

Stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. The syrup's sugar concentration decides the final texture. Stop cooking too early and the candy stays sticky; go too far and it crystallizes grainy or scorches.

“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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