You Are What You Eat

I had a lot of fun with this project, and I thought it was nice to have an introductory assignment that was fun and not terribly serious. My first thought was to make rock candy. I had really high hopes for them because the crystals turn out really beautifully and I was planning on hanging them on monofilament so that they had a sort of ethereal quality. Unfortunately, my first attempt failed miserably. My twist on the recipe was to make them tea-flavored, and I ended up dumping the tea leaves into the actual sugar solution, so that it was kind of gunky and green. I had planned on using mint tea and having the crystals grow on peppermint lifesavers because apparently having a sugar base to start with makes the crystals grow larger. I didn't let the sugar solution cool enough, though, so the candies melted and fell off the monofilament when I put them in the solution. At that point I scrapped the whole project.
My second idea was to make actual candy. Candy can be a tricky thing to make. It has to reach a stage called hard crack, where the sugar reaches about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. There's really only a ten degree window around 300 degrees where the candy will firm up correctly when you put it in molds, so I had to trek down to the mall to buy a candy thermometer. The first batch of candy I made was going to be basil and pepper flavored, and that batch burned, which might have been for the best. It was an eventful start. The other three batches were all tea-flavored, which I did by using a 1/4 cup of strong tea instead of water in the recipe (shown below). They were orange zephyr, strawberry apple, and pumpkin spice chai, respectively. The Chai was my favorite in terms of both taste and appearance, as I had figured out by that point the best way to drip the sugar onto tin foil to get it to make neat shapes.

Recipe for hard candy (I omitted any extra flavorings or colors from mine):

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ¼ cup water
• ¾ tsp extract of your choice (vanilla, mint, cinnamon, coconut, etc)
• Food coloring (optional)
• Lollipop molds and sticks

Preparation:

1. Prepare your molds by spraying them with nonstick cooking spray and inserting lollipop sticks into the molds.

2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Insert the candy thermometer and stir until sugar dissolves.

3. Allow to boil, without stirring, until candy reaches 295 degrees (hard-crack stage).

4. Once the candy reaches 295, remove it from heat. Stir in the extract of your choice, and, if desired, food coloring.

5. Spoon the candy into the mold cavities, making sure to cover the back of the stick.

6. Allow to cool completely and remove once hardened.