How to make rock sugar fast and with good results ?
I tried making rock sugar for a few times, and I only got it right once. By using bamboo skewer coated with some ordinary sugar and supersaturated sugar solution in a glass jar. What I end up with is a bottom of a jar covered with large crystals and a few of them on the skewer.
I tried with both white and brown sugar, plain and with vanilla and rum flavors. Does anyone have experience with this? Is there a better, more efficient and faster way to make it? So far it seems that it’s better for me to buy some than to actually make it, because it takes a long time and usually doesn’t yield good results.
i made some as a kid too, we did the string thing also i think we had a already made piece of rock sugar on the end of the string also so that the new crystals would start growing on it and up the string, thanks for posting this im gonna make some now lol :)
I didn’t try with the string yet. What bothers mi most with jar method is that most of sugar ‘seed’ crystals falls of the skewer and grows on the bottom of a jar. You have to rinse it with hot water for several times in order to clean in, and you have to throw away those crystals because most of them almost completely dissolves.
I did, however, find it useful for sweetening a strong Chai (although I don’t drink it often) – I would the brewed tea ‘steep’ in that sugary jar for few minutes.
I hope that someone can comes up with the solution :)
That’s a neat idea, especially since you can flavour them how you like. I’ve only ever done the string method, but I’m not sure how easy those would be to separate into pebbles for dropping in your tea – it makes rock candy, if you’re familiar with that sugar-on-a-stick dessert. I wonder if there’s way to make rock sugar in a way that will store without them all eventually sticking together!
That’s basically it. You just gently crush the crystals and they’re good to go. Although I’ve seen one kind of white rock sugar from Germany that has identical size and structure for each crystal. How do they do it!
lol, those crazy Germans. maybe I’ll have a play around in the kitchen today, some vanilla rock sugar sounds delicious. I guess the key would be trying to make the crystals a) stay away from the jar walls and b) large enough to bother harvesting and storing. I hope someone replies with experience, I’m curious now
Can you buy the large granulated rock sugar here in the states? The sugar I buy from Japan is rock sugar, large granules, size, shape, and mass is the same for each granule. Have not been able to find this in the states. Maybe it’s restricted to those crazy Germans and the crazy Japanese. This crazy Japanese person though, would like to buy it in the states since I live here in the states. No, I don’t have the patience to make my own.
Try Sugar in the Raw. It’s not really as big as traditional rock sugar, but it’s made of the same stuff. It’s unprocessed so expect it to be brownish and more brown sugar tasting than white. I used to buy it exclusively since I heard it was better than white sugar, but it’s pricy and didn’t work well in cakes. :(
Actually I was thinking of the pure White Crystal Sugar from Mitsui. Have scoured the internet but cannot find it anywhere except Japan.
Excelsior, perhaps these are more to your taste then:
http://www.adagio.com/pantry/white_sugar_crystals.html
:)
As for the flavored sugar thing, I know you flavor regular sugar by putting a cut vanilla bean in with regular sugar for a few weeks. Perhaps this would work with large sugar crystals as well. And if it works, we might also try tossing in rose petals, lavender, jasmine flowers, citrus zest, rosemary… I’m running out of ideas. :D Perhaps others could add their own.
I have no idea how one might infuse rum flavor into the sugar with this method though.
I went looking for recipe/how to make sugar crystals after buying those Adagio ones. There are a ton of how-to videos on youtube. I didn’t save any of them, because I decided it would be too time consuming for the amount I use. But try looking on youtube?
Mercuryhime, thanks for the tip. I wonder if those crystals would weigh less or equal to the mass of the large granule sugar fitting into a quarter tsp? 1/4 tsp is all I take with 400ml of tea. Anyways, since my work is taking me now to Asia once a year, I may be good for the time being. Yet I do value the wealth of tips and advice one can receive on steepster. Thanks again and happy brewing.
We tried doing the string method. A few jars turned out, a few didn’t. After waiting a week for them, it sure does require some patience. haha.
I did it as a kid with a string in some sugar. But I haven’t made it in ages.
I have done it with plain white sugar and string. I wanted German rock sugar like Teavana sells, but cheaper. The problem is that they are using unprocessed German BEET sugar, and I can only find it MORE expensive, not less! LOL! So I coughed up the dough and bought their big jar.
I have wondered if the white candy rocks being sold under the name German Rock Sugar are actually just rock candy, but I haven’t been able to find an answer. Does anyone know? I want unprocessed, raw sugar, preferably beet.
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