Why it works: Sugar and molasses 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
Combine sugar, butter, and molasses in a pot.
Boil the mixture until it cracks when dropped in cold water.
Pull and finish
Allow to cool, then 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 + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + molassestop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the molasses and sets into a brittle, crisp candy as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens the texture and makes the pulled candy less brittle.
- Molasses
- Provides the main flavour and moisture, and its sugars help the candy harden when boiled.
The step that matters
Boiling until it cracks in cold water. Cooking must go far enough to reach the hard-crack stage, where water is driven off and the sugar sets firm. Stopping early leaves a soft, sticky candy that will not hold its shape.
“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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