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Dessert

Peanut Candy

A sweet confection made with brown sugar, molasses, water, butter, vinegar, and peanuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Peanut Candy

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 ↓

Peanut Candy

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, molasses, water, butter, vinegar, and peanut meats until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and boil over medium heat until thick.

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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Peanut + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + peanuttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,754 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 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

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and the bulk of the candy's body as it thickens.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavour and moisture, and helps the candy stay soft and chewy.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity, which helps keep the sugar mixture from crystallising too much.
Peanut meats
Supply the nutty flavour and the main texture of the finished candy.

The step that matters

Boiling until thick. Sugar syrup sets as its water evaporates and its concentration rises. Stop too early and the candy stays soft and sticky; cook too long and it becomes hard and brittle.

Swap the peanut

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

  1. Almondfits about as well
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Walnutfits about as well
  4. Peanutthe original

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