Thursday, July 25, 2013

How to Make Rainbow Rock Candy

Make colorful rainbow rock candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips



One of the fun things we made for our party was Rainbow Rock Candy.  It is not that difficult,  but it does take a lot of time.  You will need to start making it about a week before you want to eat it. 




How to make Rock Candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips


You will need:
sugar (and a lot of it!) 
water
glass jars (small jelly jars worked the best for us) 
food coloring 
skewer  or lollipop sticks 
flavoring (optional) 
clothespins or something similar to hold the stick in place

We started the sugar mixture by adding 4 cups of sugar, and 4 cups of water in a large pot.  We slowly brought the mixture to a boil,  constantly stirring the sugar until it dissolved. Once the initial sugar had dissolved, we added more sugar, 1 cup at a time. When making the candy, be sure to fully dissolve each cup of sugar before adding the next one.  The amount of sugar that is added  to the mixture will depend on the amount of candy that you are making. 

We decided to use 9 jars, and make 18 pieces of candy.  The rock candy needs some room to grow, so you will not want to place more than two  pieces of candy in the same jar.   In our sugar mixture we used 9 cups of sugar, and only the  initial 4 cups of water. The ratio of a little more than 2 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water worked well for us.  When all the sugar is added and dissolved, turn off the burner and allow the sugar mixture  to cool. 


How to make Rock Candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips


While the mixture is cooling, it is the perfect time to prepare the skewer sticks. Soak the sticks in some water, and then roll them in a plate of sugar. Allow the sticks to dry, before moving on to the next step.  We made sure that about 2/3 of the stick was covered with sugar. The last 1/3 will not need to be covered, because that is where you will hold the candy when it is finished. 

How to make Rock Candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips


We made a mess during the next step!  Using  a soup ladle we divided the sugar mixture into our jars.  If you prefer not to make a mess, use a funnel to make sure all the sugar water makes it to where it is supposed to go. (instead of on the stove or the sides of the jar)  Add some  food coloring, and  make your desired colors before the sugar sticks are added. We made red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. We also used some neon food coloring and made some neon pink, purple, and blue. 

How to make Rock Candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips


We did not have any clothespins. I did not realize this fact  until after we made the sugar water, so we improvised with large clips. A clothespin would  make it easier to set up the sticks. Slowly add two sugar covered skewers to each jar. Try to keep the skewers upright if you can, so the crystals will  grow evenly.  A few of our skewers ended up on a slant, but it didn't seem to matter. Those pieces of candy still successfully grew.
  
How to make Rainbow Rock Candy @PamsPartyandPracticalTips


Place the jars in a nice warm spot where they will be undisturbed for several days.  We put our jars  in our kitchen window.  The plants in the back are Kara's lucky bamboo plants from Ikea. Every time she goes to Ikea she gets another plant. (we are now up to 4) 



Don't the colors  look pretty in this picture! I love how the light made the colors glow.  Allow the skewers to sit about a week. We made ours on the Sunday before the party, so they sat for a total of 6 days.  

How to make Rainbow Rock Candy at Pams Party and Practical Tips


When it was time for the party, I slowly pulled out the skewer sticks. The top layer of the sugar mixture hardened just a bit, so I had to carefully break it to get the candy out.  There were a couple of pieces that did not work. As you can see in the picture there is no orange candy. There was not enough growth on the orange skewers to serve them  Out of 18 pieces of candy,  only 4 did not grow enough to use, so we were happy with those odds.  

The girls loved the candy, and it was gone by the next morning. Kara has already asked me when we can make it again.  



26 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Kelly! It was not that hard, but we sure made a mess. :)

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  2. I LOVE these!! I just turned to my husband and said go get me food coloring right now!!

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    Replies
    1. LOL! Did you end up getting the food coloring? We found that the neon colors worked really well too.

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  3. I loved rock candy when I was kid but it wasn't until I was an adult and did this as an arts and crafts project for the childcare facility that I worked at that I really appreciated how much hard work went into it.

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    Replies
    1. It does take a lot of time. We almost didn't do it when we saw how long it takes to form. We are really glad we did though.

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  4. Your rock candy is so pretty! I've never made it before, but now I know how easy it is, I can't wait to give it a try :) I'd be thrilled if you'd come on over to Pink Recipe Box and link up at Creative Wednesdays: http://pinkrecipebox.com/creative-wednesdays-with-pink-recipe-box-2/

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the invite. I just linked up!

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  5. My kids love doing this. Yours look so colorful!

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    Replies
    1. I think that is because we added a lot of food coloring. :)

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  6. This is so neat! I love having rock candy at parties - it's so nostalgic.
    Thanks for linking it up!
    -Heather
    www.stringtownhome.net

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  7. Suzanne of Simply Suzannes at Home

    I LOVE rock candy! It can be quite expensive, so I'm so happy to have found you and your tutorial.
    Thanks so much for sharing!
    Suzanne

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    Replies
    1. I am glad you found us. The only real cost for making it at home is the bag of sugar and food coloring. You will need a good amount of sugar, but it will still only cost you a few bucks a bag.

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  8. My kids would have so much fun doing this!

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    Replies
    1. I bet they would like it too. Kara has already asked to make it again.

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  9. Thanks for the invite. It looks like I am too late for last weeks party, but just in time for this weeks. I made a note of it, so hopefully I will make it over.

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  10. So pretty and shimmery! Pinning :) Found your post on Five Little Chefs!

    Lori
    Who Needs A Cape? (Not Your Average Super Moms!)

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  11. The gang at My Personal Accent thinks your post about how to make Rainbow Rock Candy is WONDERFUL, and we would like to invite you to party with us at starting at 5:00 Thursday nights at our new Blog Strut Peacock Style Link Party to share your creative ideas. Come on over!! http://wp.me/P2Vf55-1K

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  12. This is so fun! I love hard candy. I must try this one day :) Thanks for sharing it with us over at the Less Laundry, More Linking party. Hope to see you there again next week!

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  13. I shouldn't pin this because I have a sugar craving 5yo, but I can't help it! It's such a great and easy idea!!!! Thank you so much for sharing! We are making this for sure! Pining to my Happy Meal board! I came to you via The Taylor House Pinning Party!

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  14. Stopping by today to let you know that your rock candy was featured in my Whimsy Wednesday roundup! Thanks for linking up! http://bit.ly/13fgbcd

    Susan

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  15. Love it!! They're so fun and I'm sure kiddos everywhere would love to eat them! =) Thanks for linking this up at last week's Pinterest Power Party! It'll be featured in tomorrow's party! Hope you'll swing by, grab a featured button, and link up with us again!

    Happy Tuesday!
    Danielle
    SewMuchCrafting.com

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  16. I just love the rainbow of colors! What a fun project! Thanks so much for sharing!

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