Homemade Rock Candy

I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to try it out. SOOOO easy. And what a fun thing to do with your kids - if they have the patience to wait a week that is!

Rock Candy

1 Cup Water

3 Cups Sugar

Food Coloring (optional)

Bamboo skewer

Clothespin or other handy device (you'll see)

Tall thin clear glass

Boil the water. Keep it at a good simmer. Add the sugar 1/4 Cup at a time and wait until it has completely dissolved before adding more. Continue until all the sugar has been added. Add food coloring if you want. The mixture gets "weird looking". My pictures didn't turn out. The water turns almost yellowish looking and sort of resembles the texture of oil. It was weird. Anyhoo. Let the sugar water mixture cool a little and then pour it into a tall clear thin glass. I used a drinking glass but a Mason Jar would work well also. Honeybear put a couple of knives in the glass to absorb the heat. So smart! If you have a clothespin pinch the bamboo skewer in the pincher part and then rest the clothespin on the top of the glass so that the skewer does NOT touch the sides or bottom of the glass. If you don't - you'll have to get creative. Honeybear grapped a lid to a to-go coffee cup and it worked PERFECTLY! So smart - I think I'll keep him. Then my lid just sits on the top of the glass and I'm good to go. Don't touch this. Crystals will start to form and it should be ready in about a week. I chronicled my rock candy progress with daily pictures.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

  

Day 4 - it's becoming obvious that there is going to be more rock candy on the inside of my glass than there will be on the bamboo skewer. And although it's hard to see it - the candy is "growing" on the skewer!!

So in hindsight - I probably wouldn't do this again. There were waaaay more crystals on the glass than the skewer & boy was that fun to wash off the glass. But a neat little trick for kids of you're up to it!