Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Snow Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the candy
Boil the sugar, vinegar, and cream of tartar until brittle.
Spread the mixture on buttered plates.
Pull and finish
Once cool, pull the candy until it turns white.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,064 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the candy's sweet, brittle structure as it cooks and hardens.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that breaks down sugar and limits large crystals, keeping the candy smooth.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that helps prevent sugar from crystallizing too coarsely.
The step that matters
Pull the candy once it has cooled. Pulling works air into the cooled sugar, which makes it turn opaque white. If the candy is still warm, it stays sticky and will not pull properly.
“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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