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Dessert

Molasses Candy

Molasses candy is a sweet confection made from molasses, sugar, water, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Molasses Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix sugar and cream of tartar together.

  2. Add molasses and water, and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Cook and set

  1. Boil without stirring until it hardens in cold water.

  2. Turn into a buttered pan.

  3. When cool, work and cut into sticks.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,408 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
Forms the main body of the candy and sets firm as it cools.
Molasses
Adds dark colour, a rich flavour, and some chewiness to the candy.
Cream of tartar
Its mild acid helps prevent sugar from forming grainy crystals, giving a smoother texture.

The step that matters

Boil without stirring. Stirring hot sugar syrup can encourage crystals to form, which makes the candy grainy instead of smooth. Cook until the syrup hardens in cold water so it sets firm once cooled.

“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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