Sugar Crystal Hearts- SLOW..but Fun!
We made sugar crystal hearts for Valentine's day. It was a lot of fun, and really gooey. It was also REALLY slow. We had to wait a week for the crystals to set. Watch the video here. Here's the recipe we followed:
3 cups of sugar (We actually used more.)
1 cup of boiling water
Optional Food Coloring
Gradually add the sugar to the boiling water until the solution is so fully saturated that the sugar starts to fall out. (We found that in our most successful batch, the water got very cloudy and stayed that way, and there were visible granules of sugar in the water.) This can be made on skewers or shaped.
We made hearts by shaping pipe cleaners as a base for the crystals. Wrap the end of each pipe cleaner around something that will hold the heart (or whatever shape you choose) away from the sides and bottom of the container you make these in. We used a plastic butter knife to hold it and a drinking glass as the container. For best results, use a smooth, clean glass jar or glass as your container.
Once the heart is suspended in the glass, pour the liquid over it. Leave the heart suspended in the solution for a week to get the best results. We found that if we added more than 3 cups of sugar and stirred it in quickly, we were able to get more sugar in the solution and had better results.
Wait one week and remove from the glass. You can eat the crystals. Nathan thought it was even more fun to run his fingers through the slimy water.
We found the original recipe here.