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 ↓
Maple Sugar Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a large pot, combine maple sugar, cream of tartar, and water.
Bring to a boil, skimming off impurities as they form.
Continue boiling until the mixture is brittle when tested in cold water.
Shape the candy
Pour the mixture into buttered pans and let it cool enough to handle.
Stretch the candy until it is as white as possible, then twist into small strings and break into sticks.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple sugar
- Provides the main sweetness and maple flavor, and forms the body of the candy.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing too coarsely, keeping the candy smoother.
The step that matters
Continue boiling until the mixture is brittle when tested in cold water. Sugar candy sets according to how far its water has evaporated and how hot the syrup gets. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard and bitter. The cold-water test shows when it has reached the right stage.
“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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