How to Make Honey Rock Candy

There are two reasons that parents may want to take an afternoon to make rock candy with their children. First, it is an entertaining activity. Kids will get excited about watching the candy grow in the form of crystals. As a reward for their patience, they get to eat the candy at the end of the week. Second, it is a great science experiment. Teachers may even want to use this recipe in their classroom. Follow these steps.

Things You'll Need

• 2 cups of water
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of honey
• Glass jar
• Pencil
• Paperclip
• String
• Sauce pan
• Paper towel

Instructions

1. Find a glass jar. A glass measuring cup will work perfectly for this project. Make sure that it it is completely clean before you use it. Measure a piece of string to be a little higher than the cup.

2. Tape one end of the string to the middle of the pencil. Take the second end of the string and tie a paper clip to it. This will keep the string hanging downward.

3. Wet the string and roll it in a little bit of sugar. This will help to get the process started a little faster.

4. Place the pencil over top of the glass jar with the string hanging down. Set it aside.

5. Place the water in to a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.

6. Add sugar to the water one cup at a time while stirring. You want to watch for the previous cup of sugar to dissolve before adding more. It will be much harder toward the end.

7. Add the honey and continue stirring until it has all melted and blended in with your sugar water.

8. Take the mixture off of the stove top. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

9. Pour the mixture in to your glass measuring cup.

10. Set the cup somewhere in your house where it will stay cool and not get any light. Make sure that you cover it with a paper towel, so that no dust or dirt flies in it.

11. Although you will see the rock candy begin to form within four hours, you should wait seven days before taking your rock candy out to eat it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you make more than one rock candy, you can save the extra by wrapping it in plastic wrap or storing it in a plastic zipper bag.

• If your candy hasn't started forming by the next day, then you need to re-boil your solution and add more sugar. The water must be saturated in sugar in order to grow crystals.