Why it works: Sugar and peppermint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,082 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine water and sugar.
Boil for five minutes.
Flavour and shape
Remove from heat and add peppermint extract to taste.
Stir until the mixture thickens.
Drop spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
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 + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White sugar
- Provides the sweetness and, as the syrup cooks and cools, sets into a firm, hard candy.
- Peppermint extract
- Supplies the mint aroma and flavour that defines the drops.
The step that matters
Drop the spoonfuls while the mixture is still pliable. As the cooked sugar syrup cools, it thickens and stiffens quickly. Drops placed too late may not spread into shape and can set unevenly, so they should be portioned before the mixture firms up.
“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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