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Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a hard candy made from molasses, brown sugar, butter, vinegar, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, brown sugar, butter, and vinegar in a saucepan.

  2. Boil hard while stirring continuously until the mixture hardens when dropped in cold water.

  3. Just before removing from heat, add the baking soda.

  4. Pour into a hot buttered pan.

Shape and cut

  1. Once cool enough to handle, roll the candy and cut it with scissors.

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 + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Molasses + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,253 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
Provides the dark color, deep flavor, and chewy body of the candy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm as it cooks and cools.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot acidic syrup to release gas, making the candy light and airy.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that helps prevent crystallization, keeping the candy smooth.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda. The soda must go in just before removing the pan from heat. It reacts vigorously with the acid, releasing gas that puffs the candy. If added too early, the gas escapes and the texture turns dense.

“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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