What do Sea Monkeys, avocado seeds and 4 cups of sugar melted into 2 cups of water have in common? Days, sometimes weeks of scientific viewing pleasure on your kitchen windowsill and, technically, all three are edible.
It’s the third for which I have a soft spot, even though it’s rock hard. Dissolve 4 cups of sugar in 2 cups of water. Put the syrup in a tall glass. Dip a length of cotton cooking string into the mixture that’s just a wee bit shorter than the length of the glass. Make sure the string is saturated. Remove and let the string dry completely. Resubmerge into the sugar water, weighing the end down with a fishing weight, a washer or something equally heavy to keep the string straight. Tie the top end to a pencil that rests on the lip of the glass so that it hangs in gentle suspension in the sweet drink. Alternatively, pour the liquid in a bowl and secure a piece of parchment over the rim with a rubber band, making sure the parchment is taught. Poke pre sugar-saturated and dried toothpicks through the parchment so that they are partially submerged in the sugar water. If you’re feeling particularly fancy, replace the 2 cups of water with coffee and produce java infused bonbons. No matter your method, let your experiment sit for at least 7 days.
The result from all this patience is rock candy. I cannot truthfully say that it would be any better to just suck on a sugar cube and bypass the above theatrics. But there’s something about those outsized crystals that grow as if on sucrose steroids that make them infinitely more edible. And what’s more gratifying than savoring the fruits of your own bounty, a treat homegrown?
14 comments:
Whoa. Beautiful.
YOur rock candy is beautiful! And I would love to dip that in my tea....BUT...I don't think I have your patience!
OMG, I love rock candy!!!! Hmmm, don't know if I could wait 7 days after I started,kinda like getting to the middle of a tootsie roll.
I think my six year old son would love this! We'll have to do this for a project this weekend....
I remember trying to make rock candy when I was nine or ten years old. The recipe was in a children's cookbook and I thought it would be so much fun to make. It never became much more than sugary string. After reading your straight forward instructions, I think I will give it another try!
They are trully beautiful. And would be great for Christmas gifts :)
Yum! These are definately eye-catching! I'd love to make these, but I didn't understand how to do it! Help, please?
I am probably not not patient enough, but the sugar water has been sitting here with the sticks in it for 4 days now, and I see sugar crystals at the top, on the bottom, but non on the sticks. I don't think they magically appear in 3 days. Well, the question should more be - should there already be crystals growing on the sticks?
If this works, I will surely make more for x-mas presents and add some chocolate covered spoons, too.
one of the crucial, if not the most crucial parts in this is the prep of the skewers or string prior to dunking into the sugar mixture. You do have to presoak string or the sticks and then let them dry prior to sticking them into the mixture for the 7 days. This gives the crystals something to "stick" to in their formation, a starter surface, if you will. If you've done this correctly and you don't see formation yet, I suggest waiting longer. I've left my rock candy sitting for over 7 days before.
I did that, but will take them out again, let them dry again and stick them back in. It's got to work!!!
Thank you!
I seriously have to try this with my boys - they will go nuts (and drive me crazy in the process of waiting... but I think it will be worth it).
One question though: Do you think I could add a little bit of lollipop flavoring to the mixture without adversely affecting the outcome? I would love to make these in Christmasy colors with my son for his teachers.
Thanks!
I don't see why you can add flavor too. Being paranoid, I'd have a control bowl of sugar just to make sure you get something out of it in the event the flavors/colors don't work as well. When I used coffee instead of water, the crystals didn't form nearly as well as the plain. But I still got something. Let the games begin!
This is about to drive me crazy. First it does not work, then I start again, it works for a few days and stops. Now, the sugar has separated and collected on the bottom instead of on the sticks. No sugar mojo here! Any ideas?
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