Feel the love-- candy for the visually impaired

while candy is fun to eat and tastes good. Candy can also look good too; unfortunately however not everyone can see in fact, over 3.4 million US citizens are either blind or seriously visually impaired. That's a lot of people that will never actually see a delicious pice of candy such as a lollipop now not to give away my age but my mother works in a special education classroom. My point is there are many people all around us that will never know what candy really looks like so that said, here's my idea. Why not put braille on candy. It would be easy, cheap, fun, and most of all it would let somebody that could not see the candy know that they were special to you. So without further ado, I present to you, Feel the Love candy

Step 1 The recipe

There are all kinds of candy recipes out there, but for our purposes I suggest something that will not melt upon touch like chocolate will what I have decided upon using for the base of the candy is a lolipop recipe this way they will not melt upon contact, now here is the recipe that I have used

--I got the recipe from http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-lollipops.html
I find that this recipe contains a larger number of commonly found household ingredients than most other similar recipes

But just to be thorough. Here is the recipe

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
half cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
liquid food coloring
 1 to 2 teaspoons citric acid (optional)

--Utensils, pots and pans 

Nonstick saucepan
wooden spoon
something to use as a mold I used a muffin tin. (See picture)
candy thermometer
cooking spray
wax paper

the following is pasted from the previously mentioned site and is not my personal recipe

Prepare  an upside-down cookie sheet (air underneath the sheet will help the candy to cool faster), by covering it with parchment paper and spraying it with oil. If you're using molds, prepare the molds with oil, and place them on a cookie sheet.

2. In your pan, over medium heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, water, and cream of tartar with a wooden spoon until the sugar crystals dissolve.


3. Continue to stir, using a pastry brush dampened with warm water to dissolve any sugar crystals clinging to the sides of the pan, then stop stirring as soon as the syrup starts to boil.

• Why do I need to stop stirring after the syrup begins to boil?
• Why do I wash down the sides of the pan?

Tip
Don’t have any molds? You can simply pour small circles of syrup onto a greased cookie sheet .
4. Place the candy thermometer in the pan, being careful not to let it touch the bottom or sides, and let the syrup boil without stirring until the thermometer just reaches 300° F

5. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and let the syrup cool to about 275° F before adding flavor, color, and citric acid (adding it sooner causes most of the flavor to cook away).

6. Working quickly, pour the syrup into the prepared molds and let cool for about 10 minutes. If you're not using molds, pour small (2-inch) circles onto the prepared marble slab or cookie sheet

Comments

[DELETED_jorgegunn]

This is a neat idea i make lollies alot and if they have airbubbles after licking a while the edges get sharp and can cut your tounge. i was wondering if making the letters dose the same thing. What about chocolate lollies then you can thake melted chocolate in a bag and make a design that might be fun. But its definatly a neat idea

[ms13]

That's the point of these lolliepops. They are written in braille so blind people can 'read' them with their tounge. I agree though, they do cut your tounge... Chocolate lollipops would be a good idea.....

[fidgety2]

i thought about that actually and almost did it but i was afraid the chocolate would melt too fast so i went with the blow torch method

[DELETED_jorgegunn]

hmm well i know with the molds it takes quite a while to lick off the design you would just have to make use it was well raised, ohh and not bite it. he he he

[aj0my0lizard]

you look like my old professor (no offense)

[DELETED_jorgegunn]

Promise no offense taken uless you ment your OLD professor and not your previous professor. he he he. I've a substatial amount of hair now so maybe our looks differ in reality you cant have too many dopelgangers running around and i happen to be the younger twin of my mother and aunt.

[aj0my0lizard]

i ment my previous professor

[Mr. Potato Head]

Seems like you'd get your fingers all sticky "reading" the little bumps...

[thepelton]

The blind could also read it with their tongue, although by that time they'd realize what flavor it was.

[fidgety2]

you would if you did not reach 300 degrees in step 2 but if you did get hard crack stage then you should be good

[thepelton]

You could stick candy sprinkles on the surface of a lollypop in braille form.

[Kiteman]

That's a great idea, and usable in so many candies!

[aj0my0lizard]

im new sooo could you tell me what that hand then number means

[Kiteman]

That's how many Instructables I have published.

[Romado12187]

LOL

[jwhalen523]

the flavoring wasnt in the list of ingredients

[eygen]

Braillient idea ;)

I've got nothing else to say. Only commenting for the lame pun.

[camelsamba]

I'm not entirely clear on how you added the braille - are you saying you poked holes into the candy, rather than having a raised message?

[fidgety2]

my apologies here is how i did it i first heated the pice of metal then i poked the lollipop allowed a few seconds for the lolipop to adhere then pulled the metal away this left nice little raised bumps that could be easily read

[fidgety2]

thank, you my mother is currently using these feel the love lollipops to teach a blind girl braille in her classroom.

[Browncoat]

Neat idea!!