By Elizabeth LaBau. Chocolate Expert
Hello, and welcome! I'm so glad you're here. I'm Elizabeth LaBau, the About.com Chocolate Expert, and that i write all the content on this website. I'm an old pastry chef, a present food author and recipe developer, as well as an absolutely shameless chocolate enthusiast. Let's have sugar magic together!
Rock chocolate is a straightforward sugar chocolate that may be used as a science experiment. The procedure can require per week, but it’s fun to look at the sugar crystals growing with time. Observe that the precise volume of sugar syrup you'll use depends upon how big the jar you've. If you wish to make several bits of rock chocolate, use multiple jars and skewers, and exponentially increase the sugar syrup solution as necessary. Make sure to look into the photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions showing steps to make rock chocolate .
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2-1 teaspoon flavoring extract or oil (optional)
- food coloring (optional)
- glass jar
- skewer or thread (see below)
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Preparation
1. Ready your materials: wash a glass jar completely with warm water to wash it. Cut an overall length of thick cotton thread a couple of inches more than the peak from the jar, and tape it to some pencil. Put the pencil over the lip from the jar, and wind it before the thread is hanging about 1 " from the foot of the jar. Fasten a paper clip to the foot of the thread to weight it and be sure it hangs straight lower.
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Alternately, use a wooden skewer as the bottom of your rock chocolate, and employ clothespins balanced across the top jar to clip it into position.
2. Wet your thread or wooden skewer, and roll it in granulated sugar. This first layer can give the sugar crystals something to “grab” once they start developing. Set the thread or skewer aside to dry when you ready your sugar syrup.
3. Put the water inside a medium-sized pan and produce it to some boil. Begin adding the sugar, single serving at any given time, stirring after each addition. You will see that it requires longer for that sugar to dissolve after each addition. Still stir and boil the syrup until all the sugar continues to be added which is all dissolved. Take away the pan in the heat.
4. If you work with colors or flavorings, add them at this time. If you work with an extract, add 1 teaspoon of extract, but if you work with flavoring oils, only add teaspoon, and make certain you don’t stand right while watching pan—the scent can be quite strong because it increases within the steam.
Add 2-3 drops of food coloring and stir to make sure even, smooth color.
5. Permit the sugar syrup to awesome for roughly ten minutes, then pour it in to the prepared jar. Lower the sugared string or skewer until it hangs about 1 " in the bottom.
6. Carefully put your jar inside a awesome place, from harsh lights, where it may sit undisturbed. Cover the very best loosely with plastic wrap or paper towel.
7. You can start to determine sugar crystals developing within 2-4 hrs. For those who have seen no switch to your skewer or thread after 24 hrs, try boiling the sugar syrup again and dissolve another cup of sugar in it, then pour it into the jar and insert the string or skewer again.
8. Permit the rock chocolate to develop until it's the size you would like. Don’t allow it to grow too big, otherwise it could start growing in to the sides of the jar! Once it's arrived at the dimensions you would like, take it off and let it dry for any couple of minutes, then enjoy or wrap in plastic wrap in order to save it later on.
