Rock Candy for Kids
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Put one cup of water into a small saucepan, pour 2 cups of granulated sugar into the water, heat over medium heat, stir until the sugar melts, keep adding sugar and stirring until it no longer dissolves (until sugar lies on the bottom).
Remove the pot from the stove and let the liquid cool until it is just warm.
Pour the liquid into a clean glass jar.
Grow the crystals
Tie one end of a piece of heavy cord around the middle of a pencil.
Place the pencil over the top of the jar, letting the cord fall into the liquid.
Crystals will begin to form in a few hours.
The next day, remove the cord from the jar, pour the sugar liquid back into the saucepan, reheat and cool as before.
Pour the liquid back into the jar and reinsert the cord with the crystals.
More crystals will form.
Repeat this procedure daily to grow larger crystals.
When the crystals have reached a size that pleases you, snip off any excess string and enjoy.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the crystals as the dissolved sugar slowly comes out of the saturated solution.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can form a saturated solution that crystallizes as it cools.
The step that matters
Keep adding sugar until it no longer dissolves. A saturated solution holds as much dissolved sugar as it can at that temperature. If it is not fully saturated, the sugar will not come out of solution and crystals will not form well.
“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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