Rock candy (mays)

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Rock candy is easy! You don't really need a 'recipe'. Here's how you do
It...

Directions

Take about a cup of water (or more, if you want to make several pieces of candy), and heat it in a saucepan until it almost boils.

Turn off the heat. Start stirring in granulated sugar, making sure that each addition is *completely dissolved* before you add more.

You are aiming for a 'supersaturation solution' of sugar in the water.

When you can no longer add sugar to the solution, it is ready. Let it cool a bit, and then pour it into a tall, narrow jar (or jars).

Suspend a clean piece of cotton string into the center of the syrup.

Tying the top end of the string to a pencil that sits on the rim of the jar works well. Cover the solution loosely so that dust or other contaminants will not float into the sugar solution, and put the whole thing into an out-of-the-way place for two to three weeks.

Don't shake or disturb it. During that time, larger than normal sugar crystals will form on the cotton string and possibly in the bottom of the jar. When the crystals have stopped growing or are as big as you like them, take the string out, briefly rinse the crystals in clear water and hang them to dry for a few minutes. Rock candy! You can also add food coloring to the sugar solution. The crystals will pick up a tint on the tips from it, and it looks kind of neat.

From: TERESA MAY

Submitted By PAT STOCKETT On 12-03-95

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