How To Make Rock Candy
In getting ready to discover how to make rock candy, you'll find that it will be a fun and informative way to study crystal formation. Make sure you give them lots of time to grow (about a week). As the water evaporates, the crystals of sugar form on the stick or string, and they form shapes like real crystals.
When teaching your children how to make rock candy, make sure to keep the kids back from the syrup, because it can be very hot. Children should not attempt to find out how to make rock candy without adult supervision.
What do you need to make rock candy? A clean small glass jar, a piece of string, a pencil (to hold your string inside the jar), waxed paper, a weight to hang on the string, a measuring cup, a candy thermometer, a wooden spoon, a small saucepan, 2 cups water and 4 cups sugar.
Rock candy is one of the purest and oldest kinds of candy. In years past, pharmacists used to use rock candy to make medicines for different types of illnesses.
How to make Rock Candy? Here we go...
Heat the water in your sauce pan on medium to high temperature until it boils.
Pour the sugar into the boiling water, and stir until it dissolves completely. The sugar and water together should come to a boil again.
Turn the burner off and take your pan off the heat, and pour your mixture into your jar. Put a little piece of waxed paper over the top of the jar.
Tie the weight to one end of the string – this is important to keep the string suspended into the solution, and is an integral part of how to make rock candy. Tie the other end of the string in the middle of the pencil. Dip your string into the solution, and then take it back out and lay it out on wax paper. Make sure it is straight, and let it sit for a few days to dry.
After your string has fully dried, gently hang it in the water and sugar solution and let the entire jar sit at room temperature for a few more days. Don't touch it or move it. You can check it each day to see how your rock candy crystals are growing. A full rock crystal usually takes about a week to form.
After the week is over, your crystals should be fully defined. There should be sharp angles and smooth faces of differing sizes in the jar. These are called monoclinic crystals. Their shape depends on the way the sugar molecules fit themselves together.
Next time you want to see how to make rock candy, try putting some food coloring in the sugar and water mixture, to make colored crystals. These look even “cooler” than the clear whitish crystals do. Or add some flavoring and then your project will be even more delicious.