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Philadelphia Walnut Candy

A sweet candy made from molasses, walnuts, butter, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Philadelphia Walnut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the molasses until it reaches a candy consistency.

  2. Stir in the baking soda, butter, and walnut meats.

  3. Beat the mixture vigorously until it becomes light.

  4. Pour the mixture into buttered pans.

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. Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

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

  2. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Molasses + walnuttop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + buttertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,123 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

New orleans molasses
Forms the sugary base that sets into a chewy candy when boiled down.
Baking soda
Reacts with the hot molasses to release gas, lightening the candy as it is beaten.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy's texture and keeps it from being harsh.
Walnut meats
Contribute crunch and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the sweet molasses.

The step that matters

Boil the molasses to candy consistency. Sugar concentration determines how the candy sets. Stopping too early leaves it soft and sticky, while boiling too long makes it hard, brittle, or scorched.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, meat, butter):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondfits about as well
  3. Walnutthe original
  4. Nutsfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, meat, butter. 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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