Makes 6 pieces
Ingredients
- 9 lb (18 cups) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 quarts water
- 6 bamboo skewers
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- 2 tbsp coarse sugar
- Food coloring, as needed (optional)
Directions
- Combine the sugar and water in a large clean pan and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and continue to boil for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid and brush any sugar crystals off the sides of the pan using a damp pastry brush. Remove from the heat, cover the sugar syrup, and allow it to cool undisturbed for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the lower two thirds of each skewer with the egg white and roll in the coarse sugar. Place the coated skewers on the baking sheet and place in the oven for 30 minutes to adhere the sugar to the skewers.
- Drill or poke holes that will accommodate the bamboo skewers in the lid of a very clean 1-gallon jar. Pour the cooled syrup into the jar. Place the skewers through the holes in the lid so that the coated portion will protrude into the syrup. Place the lid onto the jar with the skewers immersed in the syrup.
- Place the jar in a location where it will not be moved or shaken and let it sit for 10 days to 2 weeks. Remove the skewers of rock candy from the syrup and allow to dry overnight on a screen or on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Please could I have more details on how to make a chocolate/rock candy geode – it is so cool. How thick and and what type should the chocolate be? How to seal the halves? Should the entire egg be filled with the sugar water? Sealed or not? How long to wait (depends on size I’m sure – but rule of thumb would be helpful). I also assume the egg and priming the surface with sugar isn’t required as the notes explain the sugar adhered to the chocolate?
Hi there! SO COOL, isn’t it? I was amazed the first time I saw it. Let me reach out to our chocolate expert here at the CIA for more details, and I’ll follow up with you via email. Best, Laura
Hi!!
I also would like to know how to do the chocolate egg geode!! How awesome!!!
Thank you,
Nancy
For more information about these chocolate geodes, check out this blog post and video from the CIA!
https://blog.ciachef.edu/creating-sugar-geodes-cia-chef-greweling/
Hello.
Thank you for this recipe. I would like to make an assortment of colored rock candy skewers with my granddaughter and have some follow up questions regarding this recipe:
1. What type and how much food coloring is required for this recipe to color the candy?
2. At the end of the 10-14 days can you reuse the sugar syrup and if so, how?
2a. Can you put new sugar coated skewers into the syrup mixture and grow more rock candy?
2b. How do you safely reuse the syrup mixture?
3. How do you store these candies?
3a. How long can you store these rock candy, safely?
Thank you for considering these questions. I appreciate it.
Jeanne
Hi Jeanne!
This is a fun project! I’ll answer your questions in order:
1. Liquid food coloring is best (the kind you can buy in packs of four or so at the grocery store is just fine). Use as much as you need for your desired color; there’s no hard and fast rule.
2a & b. Though sugar is a great preservative, since the resulting syrup is still part water that has been left at room temperature for several weeks, we opt for a “better safe than sorry” attitude about reusing the syrup. It’s best to discard it and start fresh.
3. Like all candies, rock candy is best stored at room temperature in a low-humidity environment, like a tightly-sealed container. You can wrap them like a lollipop to help preserve them, but after a few days, you’ll find that they are becoming sticky. Because they are mostly sugar, they are safe to keep for a long time, but the quality will begin to degrade much sooner.
Have fun!