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Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a sweet made by boiling molasses and sugar with baking soda, optionally adding nuts or popcorn.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat a kettle until hot and butter it like a cake pan.

Cook

  1. Pour in the molasses and sugar.

  2. Boil briskly for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Test by dropping a little mixture in cold water; if it solidifies, it's done. If not solidified, boil longer.

Finish

  1. Before pouring out, stir in the baking soda.

  2. Optionally, add walnut meats or pounded popcorn for extra flavor.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + walnuttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Molasses + walnuttop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Forms the dark body of the candy and supplies its rich, slightly bitter flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as the mixture cooks down, helps it set firm when cooled.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas, lightening the candy's texture.

The step that matters

Testing for doneness in cold water. Sugar candy sets only once enough water has boiled off and the sugar concentration is high enough. Stopping too early leaves a sticky candy that won't hold its shape, while cooking too long makes it brittle or scorched. The cold-water drop test shows when it has reached a firm set.

Swap the walnut

The recipe marks walnut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar. 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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