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Rock Candy is the product of the
further refining by
recrystallization of pure cane
sugar. In fact, it is the purest
form of sugar available because
all impurities are excluded as
the large crystals form. The
crystal growth is based on the
particular characteristics of
sugar (sucrose) chemistry and
cannot be done with the various
"sugar free" substitutes seen in
the market.
Rock Candy is made by a process
of crystalization, the same
process that produces quartz and
diamonds in nature (with a
different ingredient, of
course). It is made by busting
apart the sugar (sucrose)
molecular crystal lattice and
then allowing it to re-form in
conditions that produce larger,
purer crystals. A hot, saturated
solution of cane sugar and water
is poured into large tanks.
Careful supervision of the
cooling process produces the
larger crystals which are then
harvested as Rock Candy Strings,
sticks, and loose crystals for
packaging.
For centuries Rock Candy has
been recognized as having marked
therapeutic and preservative
qualities. In fact, in the West,
sugar was used only as a
medicine or preservative up to
the middle of the 18th century
when people "discovered" it made
a sweet treat as well. The
earliest known date that white
sugar was refined was about 200
C.E. so it is probable that the
further refining into what was
later known as "Sugre Candie"
was at about that time.
There are many references to
what we now call Rock Candy in
literature. There are several
references to it in the poems of
the Persian poet Jalal-ad-Din
Rumi who lived in Turkey in the
middle 1200's. One early English
reference in 1584 seems to sum
up the virtues of Rock Candy
where it is quoted "White sugar
is not so good for phlegume, as
that which is called Sugar
Candie." Shakespeare in Henry IV
(1596) referred to its
therapeutic value as a throat
soother for long winded talkers.
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