Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Glace Fruit and Nuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil water, sugar, and vinegar to a very brittle stage (310°F).
Place over boiling water.
Dip and cool
Prepare fruit and nuts for dipping; they should be dry and slightly warm.
Drop fruit and nuts into the syrup one at a time; lift out with a fork and cool on oiled plates.
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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolves into syrup that hardens into a brittle, glassy coating as it cools.
- Vinegar or cream of tartar
- Acid that helps keep the syrup smooth by slowing sugar crystallization.
The step that matters
Cooking the syrup to 310°F. At 310°F the syrup is concentrated enough to set hard and brittle on cooling. Lower, the coating stays sticky; higher, sugar darkens and turns bitter. Dry fruit keeps water from spattering the hot syrup.
“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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