How to Make Rock Candy { Shop Small in Anoka }

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Hello and welcome back to the best little candy blog in the Twin Cities! Have you been up to Anoka yet to do a little small business, and local, gift shopping? If you’re headed to Main Street this Christmas season–stop in to see us! We have such great boxes of candy and hard-to-find treats which are perfect for co-workers, stocking stuffers, or secret Santa gifts. Today though, with the upcoming winter break for all the school kids, we thought we’d share a fun candy-making, idea that you probably made when you were younger too–rock candy! We, recently, made rock candy around our home and we had the toughest time finding a ‘good’ recipe. (The internet is great. It really is. But, when all you want is a rock candy recipe that actually works, and out of the millions of recipes results, you have an easier time finding recipes that DON’T work–the internet loses some of its greatness really quickly.) The cool thing about making your own rock candy is that it only takes two ingredients, and it takes time to grow–so, not only is it something cool to watch while on break, you also can’t eat it all right away.

The recipe we’re sharing makes one strand, in one pint-sized, Mason jar–so, it’s a small recipe. You can double it for more, or, you can make more than one smaller recipe and try different flavors and/or colors. This recipe is just the basic one–so, you can build on it all you like once you become an expert!

You will need:

1 cup Water

A small Sauce Pan

2-3 cups of Sugar

A Stove and a Timer

Mason Jar

A string with a weight on the bottom and a stick

Plastic Wrap or Aluminum Foil (or something else to loosely cover the jars)

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Here’s What to Do:

-Turn your stove on high, and bring your water to a boil in the small sauce pan. (It boils quickly, so be ready!)

-Lower the temperature to medium-high and, slowly, add two cups of sugar–stirring the whole time. After you add both cups of sugar, slowly start to add the third cup–stopping when no more will dissolve in the water as you stir.

-Turn off the heat and move your pan off of the burner. Set the timer for 15 minutes.

-During that time, cut your string to the length of your jar, tie on your weight (something like a paper clip) and then tie it to the stick so it can sit on top of the jar without falling in. (Check out the photo below–this one is tough to explain in words.)

-Wet down your string and roll it in sugar.

-After 15 minutes, pour the sugar water into the jar.

-Drop the string into the jar, and use the stick to make sure it doesn’t fall all the way in. (Again…just do it like the picture. We are terrible at explaining this one. :) )

-Now, cover it loosely, and wait! Put your jar someplace where it won’t get bumped around a lot, and where it can sit for awhile without being in the way.

-You should start seeing crystals forming within 24 hours. (If a couple days go by and you don’t see anything–you might wanna start the process over. This happened to us–we chalked it up as trial and error in the ‘scientific’ process. :) ) Give it a week, or two, before they’re ready to eat.

-When you do finally pull the string out of the liquid, place it on a paper towel to pull off any of the excess liquid and then give it a bit to dry out before diggin’ in. :)

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