Making Rock Candy

Rock Candy Results:

Rock Candy Day 4 Update:

 

Day 4

After waiting for more than a week... here's the rock candy we made.

I forgot to update yesterday, but the crystallization process is a slow one. So you didn't miss too much.

Rock Candy Day 2 Update:

 

Day 2

I'm not entirely sure that there are any more crystals on the skewers today... but here's the picture (after about 31 hours).

Rock Candy Day 1:

 

Day 1

This attempt looks more promising.  The liquid is transparent and there are sugar crystals forming on the skewers.

Now we wait.

Making Rock Candy

Attempt #1

Our attempt #1 was a dismal failure because I went overboard on the sugar and the entire glass solidified into a chunk of sugar... I had to rinse it out with hot water and scrap the sugar out with a spoon.  I decided to give this experiment another try.

This time I modified the steps slightly and stuck to a 1 cup water: 3 cup sugar ratio.  I'm hopeful we'll get some rock candy in about a week.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-7 days.

What we used:

4 bamboo skewers
1 kettle
2 mixing bowls
4 long narrow glasses (I used shot glasses I picked up at value village)
4 hairpins (but if you have clothespin that would probably work better)
Koolaid (optional for colour and flavour)

What we did:

I dipped the bamboo skewers in water then coated them with sugar and set them aside.
I heated water in a kettle and measured out 1 cup of boiled water.
Then I added it to a mixing bowl.
I premeasured out 3 cups of sugar.
My kids took turns adding 1/4 cup of sugar into the water and stirring in the sugar until we used up the sugar.
We added a squirt of liquid Koolaid into 3 of the glasses and left one plain.
I carefully poured the sugar water into each glass.  You can use a funnel if your mixing bowl doesn't have a spout.
Next, I placed a skewer into each glass, raised it slightly so that it didn't touch the bottom of the glass and clipped the skewer (so that the clip rested on top of the glass and held the skewer in place).
Finally, I put the glasses somewhere where it won't get disturbed.

Spaghetti Hot Dog

Not the most healthy lunch idea... but it was quick and fun.  We had spaghetti hot dogs today.  They look a bit like centipedes.  I took out a handful of spaghetti.  We snapped the spaghetti in half and the kids helped poke the spaghetti through the hot dogs.  Then we boiled them in water for about 10-12 minutes.