Homemade Rock Candy

Homemade Rock Candy is awesome! It really is food science working at its finest. Not only is it a fun experiment to do but the end result is so tasty.

Using just a few ingredients you can make rock candy at home. It would make a great activity to do with the kids as well. Maybe someone needs to conduct a science experiment for school? This would work perfectly for that. It is easy to do, if I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Gather the ingredients and tools

Homemade rock candy only requires a few ingredients. You will need:

• Water – I generally use filtered water, since my tap water tastes gross.
• White granulated sugar – The sugar is the star of the dish. You can’t make rock candy without the sugar.
• Food coloring – This is an optional ingredient. It is great for making all kinds of different colors.
• Flavoring – There are a variety of flavorings that you can put in your rocky candy.

Tools

• Pot
• Wooden spoon or spatula
• Lollipop sticks or bamboo skewers
• Wide glasses or mason jars
• Clothespins

Step 2: How to make homemade rock candy

To begin you need something for the rock candy crystals to form on. I generally use cake pop or lollipop sticks, strings are used frequently. I have also used bamboo skewers as well.

Dip the stick in water and then roll it in a plate that has some white granulated sugar on it. Little sugar crystals will stick to the stick. These are what are called “seed crystals.” The other crystals will attach themselves to these. Once the sticks are coated allow them to dry for 25 to 30 to minutes.

Step 3: Create the sugar solution

Time to make the sugar solution. Take a medium saucepot and add in the water. Place it on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium.

Once the water starts to simmer add in one of the cups of sugar. After that sugar dissolves add in another cup and repeat with the last cup of sugar. Stir the mixture and bring it to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil add in the food coloring and any flavoring that you may have. Mix it in and then turn off the heat. Allow the hot sugar solution to cool for 20 minutes. This is the base solution for rock candy.

Note: Please do not touch the liquid or the pot it is extremely hot and will burn you. Young children should have adult supervision when making rock candy at home.

Step 4: Containers for the Rock Candy to grow in

Next, you need some sort of container to put the solution in. The container shouldn’t be too narrow it needs to be wide enough to allow the crystals to form without sticking to the sides. I generally use a large mason jar for my rock candy (800 ml size). That, size jar will make one large rock candy. Or can can try it with smaller containers.

Use a funnel so it is easier to fill up the jar. Leave about an inch to an inch to two inches of space from the top. Add a circular ring to the top of the jar and then dip one of your sugar sticks in it and attach it with a clothespin.

Make sure there is an inch and a half of space between the bottom of the jar/container and the stick. If you want to make a few different colors and flavors, don’t add the food coloring and flavoring while the solution is heating. You can add it to the individual jars instead.

Now it is time to wait for those sugar crystals to develop. This will usually take 5 to 7 days for a good amount of crystals to form making that awesome rock candy.

Step 5: Homemade Rock Candy has formed!

After a few days, you will be able to see the progress of rock candy. Notice the film of sugar that has grown on the very top surface of the sugar solution, this is normal. Time to remove the candy from the solution.

Use a fork and gently break apart the thin layer of sugar crystals on the top. Pull the stick with the rock candy out of the solution and place it on another glass to dry.

This will allow any dripping sugar water to be contained. Let them dry for about 4 hours. The longer you allow them to sit in the water the larger the crystals will grow. Don’t they look awesome?

Rock Candy Troubleshooting Tips

It is possible that so many crystals will grow in the glass or cup and the stick will get stuck. This glass is a little too narrow of a glass. This is science but not always an exact science, meaning sometimes the sugar crystals just don’t grow how you want them to.

I have found an 800 ml size mason jar works great, it is about 3.5 inches wide and 6.5 inches tall. But it will only make one large candy with this recipe. The cool thing is the science still worked.

Sugar crystals did form, just too well, because the stick won’t come out. Sometimes you can run hot water on the bottom of the glass to release the stick.

Why are my rock candy crystals so small?

Was your glass or container cold by chance? When pouring the hot liquid into the container it may have cooled quicker causing the development of smaller crystals. One way to avoid this is the heat the jar up on the outside with hot water before adding the sugar solution. Or just a metal container like a wide thermos.

How long can I store the rock candy?

Rock candy, if stored in a dry place, can last for up to a whole year.

Can I reuse the leftover liquid?

Yes, you can reuse the leftover sugar syrup. If you want to make more rock candy, just heat it up with an additional cup of sugar, to replace the sugar that grew on the previous stick.

How do I clean the mason jar or glass after growing the rock candy?

Sometimes when you make rock candy the whole bottom of the glass gets covered with crystals, and they seem to grow everywhere but on the stick, haha. It can be a little bit of a pain to clean the glass. I find running incredibly hot water in the glass for a few minutes will melt the sugar enough to get it out of the glass. If you use something like a plastic cup, you can just throw it out.

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4.75 from 40 votes

Homemade Rock Candy

Making rock candy at home is a fun science experiment that you can eat! You can experiment with different colors and flavors. It is a great activity to do with the kids. It is extremely easy to make using just a few ingredients. Remember though this is a science experiment more than it is an exact recipe. Sometimes you can do everything right and the crystals just don't behave, haha.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Resting time5 days d

Total Time5 days d 25 minutes mins

Course: Candy

Cuisine: American

Keyword: crystals, fun, kids, science, sugar

Servings: 3 Candies

Calories: 194kcal

Author: Matt Taylor

Equipment

• pot
• wooden spoon or spatula
• lollipop sticks or bamboo skewers
• wide glasses or mason jars (400 to 800ml) or wide metal thermos
• clothespins

Ingredients

• 1 cup of water 240 ml
• 3 cups of white granulated sugar 600 g
• 1 – 2 tsp flavoring

Instructions

• Begin by dipping the sticks in water and then rolling them in sugar. A plate works well to hold the sugar. I only dip it where I want the sugar crystals to grow. Set the sticks aside and allow them to dry. These are the seed crystals that the other crystals will grow on.
• Add a large pot to the stovetop and set to medium heat. Pour in the water and bring it to a simmer. Then add in the sugar a cup at a time, stirring it to dissolve the sugar. Bring it to a boil. If you are only using one color and flavor you can add it in right when it boils.
• Remove the pot from the heat and allow the sugar solution to cool for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes run the tap water until it gets really hot, let the water run over the glass or mason jar to heat it up until really warm. Make sure to use a wide glass or mason jar like the 800ml kind if you want larger candies, but you will get fewer of them, with this amount of liquid you will get 1 large one. Smaller mason jars or glasses for smaller candies, but you will get more of them. 2 to 3 of them.

  Pour the hot sugar solution into the containers. If you are using a metal thermos no need to heat it up. If you want different colors now would be the time to add those colors and flavors.
• Attach a clothespin to a sugar stick and set it in the solution. If necessary use a metal ring on top of the mason jar so the clothespin can sit on it. Try and keep the stick in the very middle of the glass and at least 1.5 inches from the bottom. If it is too close to the bottom the crystals might fill up the bottom.
• Let the crystals form for 3 to 5 days. Use a fork and gently break away any thin layer of sugar that has formed on the surface of the solution. Then pull out the rock candy and place in another container to dry for 4 hours. That's it! Enjoy!

Video

Notes

1.) Each jar of the solution has much more solution than the resulting piece of rock candy. You may reuse the solution, but you will need to reheat it and add another cup or so of sugar to replace the sugar loss.

2.) The amounts of candies will totally vary depending on what size container you use, you can make smaller candies with smaller containers, bigger containers/jars will hold more liquid making fewer candies.

 

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Nutrition

Calories: 194kcal

Do you like the recipe? Please give it a rating and comment down below, I really appreciate it.  If you make it tag me on Instagram @inthekitchenwithmatt. Also, sign up for the newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of my new posts and recipes.

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