Effect of Temperature on Rock Candy Mass

Abstract

Rock candy is a popular form of sugar in different cultures, replacing castor sugar in coffee or tea. Given the popularity of homemade rock candy, understanding the optimal manufacturing conditions is important. Previously, the optimal manufacturing conditions have been studied at an industrial level to increase the efficiency of rock candy production. In the aforementioned previous study, it was recommended that rock candy be prepared using sugar solutions heated to 80°C. The goal of this experiment is to determine the effect that the temperature of a rock candy sugar solution has on the final mass (g) of rock candy in a non-industrial environment. An online rock candy recipe was modified in our experiment to examine the effect of differing temperatures (60°C, 70°C, 80°C, 90°C) on final rock candy mass (g) grown over 7 days. Contrary to studies performed at an industrial level, we found that solutions heated to 90°C experienced significantly greater rock candy mass growth than solutions heated to 60°C, 70°C and 80°C. Additionally, solutions heated to 60°C, 70°C and 80°C experienced nonsignificant differences in mass growth. The applications of this study are that knowledge of rock candy yield based on temperature can save expenses on heating for small-scale production of rock candy.