The following recipe can be found at Sugarcraft.com. I haven't tried it, but I wanted a copy of it so I could try it, and anyone else interested can try it too. They have a neat website with lots of candy supplies and recipes and ideas. Go here for a more complete listing.
ROCK CANDY 2 cups water 4 cups sugar food coloring (optional)
Place two cups of water into a saucepan. Add four cups of sugar and stir for a minute to get as much sugar as possible to dissolve. Place the saucepan on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add food coloring, if desired. Stir. Take the saucepan off the heat. If you're using a Rubbermaid or Tupperware container you can pour the hot liquid directly into it. Otherwise let the liquid cool in the saucepan; then pour into your plastic container (DO NOT use a glass container!!!!). (Larger crystals grow is the solution cools slowly. So, if possible, place container in a warm spot.)
Crystals will form on the surface in a few days. Do not remove them; sink them to the bottom with a spoon. In 7 days or so the bottom of the plastic container will be covered with a thick layer of sugar crystals (rock candy). Turn the container over in the sink. Let the excess sugar solution drain completely. This takes about 2 hours. When the surface of the crystals is dry, push on the sides and bottom of the plastic bowl and the crystals will break into chunks. Put crystals onto wax paper and let them dry completely. The more they dry, the more they sparkle. WHAT IS ROCK CANDY? Rock Candy is the product of the further refining by recrystallization of pure cane sugar. In fact, it is the purest form of sugar available because all impurities are excluded as the large crystals form. The crystal growth is based on the particular characteristics of sugar (sucrose) chemistry and cannot be done with the various "sugar free" substitutes seen in the market.
HOW IS IT MADE Rock Candy is made by a process of crystalization, the same process that produces quartz and diamonds in nature (with a different ingredient, of course). It is made by busting apart the sugar (sucrose) molecular crystal lattice and then allowing it to re-form in conditions that produce larger, purer crystals. A hot, saturated solution of cane sugar and water is poured into large tanks. Careful supervision of the cooling process produces the larger crystals which are then harvested as Rock Candy Strings, sticks, and loose crystals for packaging.
HISTORY OF ROCK CANDY For centuries Rock Candy has been recognized as having marked therapeutic and preservative qualities. In fact, in the West, sugar was used only as a medicine or preservative up to the middle of the 18th century when people "discovered" it made a sweet treat as well. The earliest known date that white sugar was refined was about 200 C.E. so it is probable that the further refining into what was later known as "Sugre Candie" was at about that time. There are many references to what we now call Rock Candy in literature. There are several references to it in the poems of the Persian poet Jalal-ad-Din Rumi who lived in Turkey in the middle 1200's. One early English reference in 1584 seems to sum up the virtues of Rock Candy where it is quoted "White sugar is not so good for phlegume, as that which is called Sugar Candie." Shakespeare in Henry IV (1596) referred to its therapeutic value as a throat soother for long winded talkers.
................. ROCK CANDY USES Today, Rock Candy is primarily used in two ways: as a delicious confection enjoyed by children and adults alike, and as an elegant sweetening alternative to ordinary table sugar for coffee and tea in fancy hotels and restaurants.
The next recipe is a bit different, and has more ideas on using the sticks for suckers. I found the recipe HERE at Kids Craft Recipe Factory. They have other neat craft and homemade gift ideas.
Beautiful and yummy! The sugar sticks are a great way to stir in sugar to coffee and tea and make a great gift idea. After bringing water to a boil, add sugar. Continue to boil until the temperature reaches above 260°F. Let the sugar mixture cool for five minutes and then poor into glass jar. Add food coloring. Punch the bamboo skewer through the plastic coffee can lid and place on top of jar. The skewer should not touch the bottom of the jar. Wait seven days to left the lid.
We will be trying out these recipes!!
Let us know how they work for you.... Maybe I will wait and see which recipe YOU like before digging in and trying it on my own. Hee hee!!
One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty, the beauty of the Lord. To inquire in His temple, the temple of the Lord.
This is my everyday thoughts about being a mother to three little ladies (12, 10 and 5) and a three year old son. We serve God full-time, and I am a physician assistant. I have the most awesome husband in the world. I am trying to seek and serve God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength.
.................
Posted by 
Posted by 
Posted by Anonymous
