Do you remember making Rock Candy when you were a kid? The basic material of rock candy is sugar dissolved in hot water. When the solution cools and begins to slowly evaporate at room temperature, the sugar will crystallize. A string or swizzle stick will attract the crystals, forming rock candy. You can see a "how-to" video below.

 

There are many references to what we now call Rock Candy in literature. There are several references to it in the poems of the Persian poet Jalal-ad-Din Rumi who lived in Turkey in the middle 1200's. One early English reference in 1584 seems to sum up the virtues of Rock Candy where it is quoted "White sugar is not so good for phlegume, as that which is called Sugar Candie." Shakespeare in Henry IV (1596) referred to its therapeutic value as a throat soother for long winded talkers.

 

One of my favorite memories, of all time, involves rock candy. There was nothing like walking on the brick walkway from our house, in the South, to my grandparents house, through the back screened porch and down the polished wooden hallway to find my Grandmother in the kitchen making rock candy.

 

I was always enthralled by the fact that she could make something so wonderful, and I believe she was equally thrilled to share that beautiful clear candy with her granddaughter with the sweet tooth! Those memories still bring warmth, and a feeling of joy and contentment! I was blessed to be able to have that experience more than once in my life. ~ Juanita from Michigan