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Dessert

Fruit Candy

Fruit candy is a confection made from sugar, coconut milk, grated coconut, raisins, almonds, pecans, and walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Fruit Candy

Why it works: Almond and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fruit Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy base

  1. Combine the sugar and coconut milk in a saucepan and heat slowly.

  2. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes.

  3. Add the grated coconut.

  4. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Test a small amount on a cold plate; if it forms a firm paste when cool, remove from heat.

Layer and set

  1. Pour part of the mixture onto a large tin lined with greased paper.

  2. Add the raisins, almonds, pecans, and walnuts to the remaining mixture.

  3. Pour this over the first layer and let cool before cutting into squares.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Almond + walnuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together993 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Pecans + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Coconut + walnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled, forms the firm candy structure as it sets.
Coconut milk
Supplies liquid that the sugar dissolves into and boils down to a thick candy base.
Grated coconut
Adds chewy texture and coconut flavour to the candy mass.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and nutty flavour to the set candy.

The step that matters

Testing the firmness on a cold plate. Sugar candy sets by boiling off water until the sugar concentration is high enough to firm up on cooling. Removing it too early leaves a soft, sticky result, while boiling too long can make it hard and grainy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, coconut, almond, pecans, walnut):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, coconut, almond, pecans, walnut. 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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