How to Make Sugar Crystals on a Stick

You would think that this is easy, and it is, if you don’t overcook it. I have a tendency to want to create suckers (you should see my extensive sucker mold collection), instead of sugar crystals. So here is how I finally was able to come up with sugar crystals on a stick. This is way fun and a way to learn patience, especially for the young people who are learning how to make their own sugar crystals. So here we go to make Sugar Crystals on a stick.

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Step 1:

Supplies:
1 cup water
2 ½ cups sugar
Food coloring
Flavor oil ($2 a bottle)
Sauce pan
Tall narrow glass jar (mine used to have hot pickles veggies in it)
Clothes pin
Short skewers (about 6 inches)
Rubber scraper

Hungrybearfire says: Jul 30, 2012. 9:29 AM

Can you help me figure out why whenever I try to make this my syrup hardens the next day after I poured it into my cup. I use a plastic cup is that an issue?

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craftknowitall (author) in reply to HungrybearfireJul 30, 2012. 7:46 PM

Congratulations, you are making, as my mother called it, " hard tack" candy, or in other words, add sticks and you have suckers. The problem is you are cooking the syrup too long and to, too high a temperature ( problably around 150 degrees C or 300 degrees F , that's called hark crack). You want to desolve the sugar until it won't hold any more, then stop cooking. It is better to use a clear glass jar and then put it in a sunny place. Hope this helps. Thank you for asking.

mrscoloradogal says: May 13, 2012. 2:02 PM

WOW! I sure wish I had seen this a couple months ago! We attempted to make these for my daughter's science project and it was a complete disaster. We ended up with a super-saturated solution that turned into a huge sugar blob in the jar after 3 days.

We'll have to try your method because we really want to make rock candy! Thank you!

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craftknowitall (author) in reply to mrscoloradogalMay 13, 2012. 4:39 PM

Be sure and put the jar in a sunny place, it helps a lot.

mrscoloradogal in reply to craftknowitallMay 13, 2012. 4:49 PM

Thanks, we will! The ones we made before weren't anywhere near a window!

flixs says: Apr 16, 2012. 7:00 PM

question: at the time when you remove this , couldnt you coat it in sugar again, and drop that into a new jar that was cooled for stick insertion... maybe a differnt color?

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craftknowitall (author) in reply to flixsApr 17, 2012. 3:41 PM

YOu could, I don't see why not. Sounds like an experiment to me. Try it and let me know how it turns out.