How to Make Hokey Pokey Candy

You may know the name hokey pokey from a dance you did around a campfire when you were a kid. It's not only a dance, but it's a well-loved candy from New Zealand. I've discovered in my travels that there is a kind of candy called honeycomb in the UK that is similar, but it doesn't seem to be as ubiquitous as in NZ. There, you find it everywhere : coated in chocolate, in ice-cream, and made at home, and in school science labs all over the country.

The science lab bit is because of the fantastic foaming reaction between the hot caramel syrup and baking soda that you add at the end to make the holes in the candy.

It only has three ingredients, and takes only five minutes to make.

It's lots of fun to make with kids!

Step 1: Ingredients for Making Hokey Pokey

As I mentioned in the introduction, there are only three ingredients in this candy:

140g/ 10 tablespoons of granulated sugar

50g/ 4 Tablespoons of golden syrup

2 teaspoons of sodium bicarbonate

Step 2: Heating the Sugar

Grease a cookie tray with sides or a large cake tin with butter.

Place the sugar and golden syrup in a medium-sized pot.

Step 3: Melting the Sugar

Heat on the stove-top on a medium-low heat, stirring constantly.

Step 4: Keep Stirring!

The sugar will melt and start to bubble. Keep stirring it for 5 minutes until the mixture turns a light amber colour like you see in the photo. If you have a candy thermometer, I couple of people have said that you will know when it's ready when the temperature reaches between 145 - 150 deg C. (That's between 293 - 302 degrees F, according to Google).

Thanks to ROF and Mimikry for that hint!

Step 5: The Exciting Bit

Add the sodium bicarbonate, while stirring constantly.

Step 6: Watch the Foam!

Watch it foam up! As soon as it becomes foamy, scrape it evenly into a greased dish and leave it to harden.

Do not try to smooth it out in the dish, otherwise you will flatten it and destroy the air-pockets inside the candy. (learned from experience....)

Do NOT touch it before it hardens as it will stick to your fingers and burn them.

Step 7: Now It's Ready to Eat

Once it cools you can break it into pieces with your hands .

Hokey pokey will keep in an airtight container for at least a week.

Soak the utensils you have used in water immediately so that the candy comes off easily when you wash them.