Rock Candy { Munch + Learn }

Rock candy is not only delicious for nibbling and sweetening your tea, but the crystalisation process over time is guaranteed to intrigue the young ones. Education has never been quite this fun and delicious!

Ingredients:

• Water
• White sugar or brown sugar (3 cups of sugar for every 1 cup of water)
• Food coloring (optional)
• 
Flavoring (optional)

Tools:

• A glass or jar
• Cotton thread (you could also use lollipop sticks if you want to make tea stirring sticks)
• A paperclip

Instructions:

• Start off by tying a piece of thread around a dowel or kebab stick, making sure it’s in the middle.
• Wet the string in water and roll it in a little bit of sugar.
• Tie a paper clip to the bottom end of the string, making sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the glass or jar when the stick is laid across the top.
• Bring a pot of water to the boil on the stove.
• Once it starts to boil, remove from the heat.
• Now start adding the sugar, half a cup at a time, stirring so that it dissolves. Keep adding sugar to the point where it won’t dissolve anymore but rather pile up at the bottom of the pot.
• If you’ve decided to add any flavouring or food colouring, now is the time to add it. Stir well.
• Pour your sugary syrup into the glass until the level reaches about 2cm from the rim.
• Now place your stick over the rim of the glass so that your paper clip hangs in the water, ensuring that it doesn’t touch the bottom or sides of the glass.
• Leave the jar for a day or two until the sugar crystals start growing on the string.
• Once you’re happy with the size of the rock candy, you can remove the string from the water and leave it to dry completely.

Original images and their credits available on Pinterest