How to make a sugar crystal. How to grow lollipops with your own hands: growing sugar crystals

January 27, 1944 is the day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.
76th anniversary of the Leningrad Victory.

It was a platoon of female sappers. They affectionately called him “the girls’ team.”
Together with their dogs, they went through the entire war, worked as messengers on the front line, participated in breaking the siege of Leningrad, delivered goods to the front line and took the wounded from the battlefield. They cleared roads and populated areas from mines. They cleared mines from Leningrad and Pskov, the Karelian Isthmus and Estonia.
This topic is about the Leningrad girl platoon of sappers and their combat partners and friends - dogs.

Topics dedicated to the Leningrad Victory

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Anonymous

Recently I complained to a friend that I dreamed of living first until my child’s nap, and then until the night. I'm counting the hours. It feels like only after the child falls asleep does my own life begin. We are one and three years old. I thought after a year it would become easier, but it only became more difficult. Strength is already running out.
And then she said one thing that really offended me. That if I get up from the child, then I don’t love him. That you can’t wait until you fall asleep, you need to enjoy every minute of communication, as she does with her two children. It's like waiting for someone to come and get rid of my child for good. But this is not true at all!! I just need a break. The time when they don’t grab me by the tit, don’t suck me, don’t yell in my ear, don’t demand to play, sing a song, etc. I didn’t know that every minute of mine would be occupied by him. The children of my friends could at least sometimes play on their own, without their mothers, but not mine. He yells even when I go out and excuse myself to the toilet without him.
And on the one hand, I’m offended that my friend said that. Since I’m tired, there’s no point in pretending to be a loving mother. On the other hand, I really love him very much and don’t regret anything! But I'm so tired... Please tell me that I'm a normal mother, that everything is fine with me.

180

Anonymous

On the one hand, the topic is chatty, on the other hand, it is important for me. I’ll try to write in such a way that it’s clear what I’m talking about. It might be long, but still...
We have two parents, me and my older sister. My sister looks like my mother, I think she’s prettier than me, I’m more like my dad in appearance. Previously, in adolescence and youth, it was not clearly clear who I looked more like, but I always had complexes about my appearance. Now that I’m in my fifties, I look at the changes in my appearance and understand that over the years I’m becoming my father’s copy, which I don’t really like. As a man, my dad was not beautiful, but maybe in his youth he had a difficult character. Mom needs to erect a monument for the fact that she has been living with him for more than forty years. But this is not particularly relevant to the matter, it is to understand the scale of the “severity”. I always thought that my character was not that bad. Now, again with age, I understand that I take many traits from my dad, naturally unconsciously. Even my mother says that over the years it gets harder and harder with you, your character is similar to your father. I really don’t like this, I try to control myself and correct my behavior, but it doesn’t always work. I am very afraid that the genes will really work in old age, and I will become as unbearable as my father (stubborn, rude, selfish), but also in appearance... I always dreamed of being outwardly similar to my mother ((((. And here...
Do you think that you really can’t plug genes with your finger, as they say, or is there something else that can be done?

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The lights of a sun

A friend called me yesterday. Consult. Her son is 16 years old. Recently he confessed to her that he was in love with a classmate. In the 10th grade I moved to another school. He says he saw her and that’s it, he realized that “this is the most beautiful girl, with the most beautiful eyes in the world...” Just a year ago, this friend told me that her son told her and her husband: “There is no love! You have a habit! children..." And now he is tormented by love, suffers, writes poetry... Asks his mother for advice... Should he confess or not?
I tell my friend: “Let him decide for himself. In such matters there is no right or wrong decision. Let him do as his heart tells him...”
The topic is chatty... Have your children shared their love experiences with you? And what did you advise them...

Few people are able to remember school chemistry lessons without shuddering. Boring and incomprehensible formulas, vague names of substances, similar to the words of an exotic language... the only outlet was laboratory experiments! So why not remember your school days (or if you are still studying, apply the knowledge you gain in practice) and grow crystals at home? After all, crystals are one of the most beautiful phenomena of inanimate nature. Shining in the light, shiny, bizarrely shaped, transparent, colorless or with bright rich colors: scarlet, azure, lemon yellow...

Do you want to know, how to grow a crystal at home from regular sugar? Then read this article and you will find out everything!

Safety precautions when growing crystals at home

Warning! Before we move on to growing crystals at home (even safe ones like sugar crystals) it would not be amiss to remind you of the need to comply safety precautions:

do not use food utensils during the experiment, otherwise you may get poisoned;
do not use unknown or expired substances;
after completing the experiments, thoroughly ventilate the room and wash your hands with soap;
When conducting the experiment, use gloves, safety glasses and an apron;
If reagents come into contact with your skin or eyes, rinse them immediately with running water!
Keep reagents away from children! Be extremely careful and careful!

And now, you can begin the experience itself.

How to grow a crystal from sugar

Let's start with perhaps the safest and most affordable option - growing a crystal from regular sugar. We will grow an unusual crystal, and a crystal on a stick! It should turn out very beautiful and unusual. So, here are step-by-step instructions on how to grow a crystal from sugar:

1. First we need to prepare the blanks - sticks on which we will grow sugar crystals at home. More precisely, we will need 2 sets of sticks. That is, there should be twice as many of them as the number of crystals to be grown (it is optimal to grow at a time 5 crystals).

Any chopsticks will do: thin twigs, sushi sticks, etc.

Then you need to make some sugar syrup. To do this, heat a quarter glass of water with two tablespoons of granulated sugar until the mixture reaches the consistency of syrup. Dip one of the sticks into the syrup and roll it in granulated sugar so that the sugar coats it evenly. One end of the stick (half or a third of the length) should remain clean. This will be the “handle” of the sugar crystal.

The first step is to prepare the preparations: roll the sticks previously dipped in syrup in granulated sugar.

Repeat the operation with the remaining sticks.

Leave the sticks to dry overnight (or, if you can't stand it, at least for 2-3 hours).

2. In the morning, take a saucepan and pour it into 2 full glasses of water. Add sugar there: 2.5 cups. Turn on low heat and stir the sugar constantly until it is completely dissolved.

Add to the resulting sugar syrup another 2.5 cups Sahara. The new mixture should also be boiled until completely dissolved.

Next, the fire is turned off, and the syrup is left on the stove to cool for 15-20 minutes. At this time, we should prepare our seed sticks. Take the sticks you prepared yesterday and tie a second stick crosswise with a thread at the top part, where there are no sugars. This is necessary so that the seed can be vertically lowered into a glass with a solution when growing a crystal from sugar.

Instead of a second stick, you can use... as a holder. an ordinary clothespin!

3. Carefully pour the hot syrup into glasses. Please note that the syrup must still be hot! Otherwise nothing will work.

If you want to the crystal was colored, you can add a little food coloring to the syrup. Add dyes of different colors to each glass of syrup and get multi-colored crystals!

Place the blank sticks vertically in the center of each glass of syrup. They should not touch the bottom of the glass, much less its walls! The second stick will serve as a holder. By the way, you can use thick cardboard instead by sticking a stick with a seed into it. Or clothespin.

Glasses with syrup and sticks - leave the preparations in a warm place for 7 days

Place the glasses with chopsticks in a warm and secluded place where no one will accidentally drop them, and cover them with film or newspaper to protect them from dust. Sugar crystals will grow at home 7 days. So be patient, it won't be that long after all!

4. After a week, you can carefully remove the crystals from the glasses and enjoy them! Don't be discouraged if something doesn't work out for you the first time. Try again and everything will definitely work out! But usually, if you do everything according to the instructions, there are no problems with growing sugar crystals at home.

These are the cute multi-colored sugar crystals you will end up with!

The resulting crystals can be given away to friends (an original gift!) or a whole armful of multi-colored crystals can be given to your girlfriend (she hardly expects this). Or you can keep it as a beautiful souvenir.

That's all. Next time you will learn how to grow a crystal at home from salt, soda and copper sulfate. Happy experiments!

Chemistry is one of the worst nightmares of schoolchildren. The mention of the periodic table or valence is enough to awaken in young hearts the desire to pretend to be asleep until they receive a certificate. New graduates happily hand over their chemistry textbooks to the library and forever forget about complex formulas and calculations. But in vain, because thanks to this science you can conduct fascinating experiments and create interesting things. For example, sugar crystals.

Candy Growing Equipment

It's not difficult to transform an ordinary kitchen into a modern laboratory for creating sweets. You will only need a few simple items:

a large saucepan, preferably with a thick bottom and non-stick coating;
500 ml water;
700–800 g sugar;
thick paper or cardboard;
glasses, cups or small jars;
skewers.

Glasses or jars should be transparent, without stickers, so that you can observe how the crystal grows. An alternative to skewers is wooden ear sticks. One side, on which the cotton wool is strung, needs to be cut off, and the other left. To grow a large crystal, it is recommended to buy sushi sticks, but then you should choose a jar with a volume of 2–3 liters.

Important: The utensils intended for cooking syrup and producing sugar candy must be perfectly clean. No dust or detergent residue to ruin the whole experiment.

Step 1: Preparing the Skewers

The crystal consists of just one ingredient: sugar dissolved in water. Solid particles attract smaller ones, which stick to each other and harden. Sugar floating in water needs a base - a skewer. Or rather, solid crystals of sweetener that should stick to the stick.

At the first stage, you need to cook a syrup that is not too thick. Mix 50 ml of water with two tablespoons of sugar in a small saucepan. Heat the mixture, preferably over low heat, so that the liquid does not acquire an unsightly brown tint. Stir the syrup constantly until the sweetener is completely dissolved. Bring to a boil, keep on the stove for 5-10 minutes. Leave the pan and cool slightly, pour the syrup into a saucer.

Place a piece of paper next to the plate and sprinkle a thin layer of sugar on it. Prepare a tray or saucer for skewers, which should be covered with foil, parchment paper or cling film.

Dip about half of the stick into syrup, wait until the sweet water drains, and then roll the wooden base in sugar. Make sure you get a layer of the same thickness. The more evenly the sugar adheres, the more beautiful the crystals will be.

Place the skewers on a plate. They should not touch neighboring sticks. Set the workpiece aside, closer to a radiator or other heat source, so that the sugar hardens faster. It will take at least 12 hours for the skewers to dry completely and for the sweetener crystals to adhere securely to the wooden base.

The remaining sugar can be used in the second stage. You will have to prepare a new syrup, and add the old one to tea or pour it out.

Step 2: Base for the Crystal

You need to test the skewers with your finger: if they seem wet, wait a little longer. Are the wooden sticks and sugar dry? It's time to start making syrup for homemade candy.

Place a large saucepan on the stove and turn the heat to low.
Pour 2 cups of water into a container and wait until it warms up.
When the liquid becomes hot, add a glass of sugar. Stir until the sweetener is completely dissolved.
Add another 1.5 cups of sugar. Stir until a foam forms on the surface of the syrup, which must be carefully removed with a spoon.
Immediately place the pan on a stand or dip it in a container of cool water.

The syrup at this stage remains liquid and easily crystallizes. If you cook it a little longer, you'll end up with a sticky mass that's more suitable for making jam than growing candy.

Wait until the syrup becomes warm. Pour the mixture into glasses or jars. Fill containers 3/4 or half full. A batch of 500 ml of water is enough for approximately 7–8 glasses.

Tip: The pan for making syrup should be high, because when heated, the mass rises and can “run away”, staining the stove and the outer walls of the dish.

Step 3: Fragile Design

Cut circles from thick sheets of paper or cardboard. They should be slightly larger than the neck of a jar or glass. It is not necessary to make them perfectly round; ovals or even squares will do. The main thing is that they completely cover the container with syrup, protecting it from dust, and be rigid enough.

Punch a hole in the center of the circle into which to insert a skewer. It is necessary that the stick does not fall through or move. You can attach a cap or cap to the tip located on the surface of the glass, which will not allow the skewer to fall down under the weight of the growing crystal. A long clothespin, which should be carefully placed on top of the paper circle, will help secure the stick.

Step 4: Observation

Immerse the skewers in the glasses with syrup so that they do not touch the walls or bottom. Cold slows down and stops the crystallization process, so sweet water should not cool down. Place the glasses with syrup next to the radiator or in another warm place, preferably away from the sun.

Containers with crystals cannot be moved, lifted, or rotated around an axis. It is forbidden to remove the skewers until the lollipop has grown to the desired size. You can only observe how small particles stick to the hardened base.

How long will the lollipop grow? Depends on the consistency and temperature of the syrup, as well as the ratio of sugar to liquid. Some crystals grow in just a week, others will take 10-12 days.

Instant Pot Option

Pour the water into the pan, do not add anything.
Bring the liquid to a boil, add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
Introduce the sweet component in small portions. Stop when the sugar stops dissolving in the liquid.
Don't forget to stir the syrup so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Set the pan with the sweet solution aside. It is recommended to prepare two servings of syrup, because sometimes one is not enough.
Sprinkle dry sugar with water and roll into a small ball. Wait until it hardens and wrap the workpiece with thread. Some people recommend using a hair, but it is very thin and can break at any moment.
Tie the other end of the thread to a branch or pencil so that the crystal is strictly in the center of the pan. Like the skewer, the sugar blank should not come into contact with the walls or bottom of the container.
The syrup needs heat. If the sweet solution cools too quickly, the crystal will be irregular in shape.
You should regularly monitor the level of syrup in the pan, and if it drops, add a new portion.

The lollipop prepared in this way can be removed for 2–3 days.

Important: You cannot add regular sugar to the syrup, which does not dissolve and simply settles to the bottom. Only a warm sweet solution that has undergone heat treatment.

Colored crystals

Candies grown using sugar and water turn out white or slightly yellowish. If you want to prepare a crystal of a bright color, you should add a synthetic or natural dye to the sweet solution.

The candies will become red or pink thanks to beetroot, cherry or raspberry juice. Blueberries will make them blue, and saffron or carrots will make them orange. A few drops of spinach juice and green crystals will grow in the jar.

The candies will turn yellow thanks to lemon zest, cranberries or red currants will make them scarlet, and blackberries or red cabbage will make them purple.

Natural dyes can be added to the syrup during cooking, and synthetic food dyes can be added to glasses. The sweet solution is mixed with flavorings to enhance the taste of the crystals. It is forbidden to put dried fruits, chocolate chips and other solid ingredients into the glasses, otherwise the experiment will end in failure.

Homemade sugar candies are used to decorate cakes and serve desserts on sticks for tea. You can use unusual crystals to congratulate a friend on the holiday or even start a business selling creative sweets.

Video: how to make crystals from sugar

From us you can buy everything you need to grow them: dishes, filters, gloves and, of course, chemical reagents. The blog already contains useful tips for those who are starting to grow crystals at home. Today we will talk about how to grow crystals from the most accessible “reagents” - salt and sugar. In the following articles we will share ways to grow crystals from copper sulfate and other chemical compounds.

What you need to grow crystals from salt and sugar

The starting material itself, i.e. salt or sugar
- glass or similar container, saucepan
- distilled or just pure water
- thread or fishing line
- pencil or stick for hanging the crystal
- optional: food coloring, varnish - any transparent, nail polish is also suitable.

Seed fixation

The seed crystal, in our case it is a crystal of sugar or salt selected from a pack, is tied with a thin thread, hair or fishing line. We tie the other end of the thread to a pencil or stick, which we place on the container with the growing crystal. By rotating a pencil or stick, we adjust the length of the thread so that the seed is located approximately in the middle of the solution.

Note: It can be difficult to find a large crystal of sugar in a pack, so you can use a piece of lump sugar as a seed. You can also use a piece of candy: moisten it, roll it in granulated sugar and let it dry, then use it as a seed.

Sugar crystal, manufacturing process

Boil water in a saucepan. Reduce heat and begin pouring sugar into the water, stirring constantly until the sugar stops dissolving. The approximate ratio of water and sugar will be 1:3. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool slightly. Place the seed in it. It is advisable that the seeded solution does not cool quickly - this causes the growth of crystals of irregular shape. A fairly large crystal, several centimeters long and wide, will grow in just a few days.

If you want to get a larger crystal, simply add more sugar syrup to the container with it.

You can grow multi-colored sugar crystals by adding a little food coloring to the syrup before lowering the seed into it.

Rock salt works best for it. Sea salt can also be used, but iodized salt is not the best choice, since the crystal from it will take a very long time to grow. In the case of “ordinary” salt, the crystal grows by 2-3 cm, in the longest part, in a month.

Growing a salt crystal is almost no different from growing a crystal from sugar, only before lowering the seed into the solution, it is advisable to filter it through special paper or simply through cotton wool or several layers of gauze. It is better not to add dye to the solution.

A crystal with many faces and “sprouts” will be obtained if you place the container with the solution in a warm place. You can try to get one large crystal by preparing a saline solution from water at room temperature and growing it in a cold place. In any case, it is better not to move the container with the crystal during the growth process, as this will lead to disruption of its shape.

The finished salt crystal cannot be painted with watercolors or gouache, but can be painted, for example, with colored nail polish.

Finishing salt or sugar crystal

Be sure to cover the crystal with clear varnish - this will make it waterproof, give it a beautiful shine and help preserve it for a long time. You can use the resulting crystals in interior design, we give some ideas on how to do this simply and tastefully.

In the following articles we will definitely tell you how to grow more unusual crystals from copper sulfate and other reagents - this is also not difficult, and the results can be very impressive.

A sugar crystal will be an original gift, which you can present along with tea or coffee to your friends, or just an unusual treat that children will undoubtedly enjoy. This delicacy is sold in some stores, but is not cheap. However, you can easily grow it yourself.

Security measures

Growing sugar crystals at home requires caution and safety precautions.

Try not to use the dishes from which you eat food.
Use only quality products. Keep an eye on their expiration dates. Do not use unknown substances.
After completing the work, thoroughly ventilate the room. Be sure to wash your hands with soap.
Wear gloves, safety glasses and an apron. Of course, sugar will not harm you, but the crystals being grown can be damaged by a fallen eyelash, dust, or drops of sweat.

Sugar crystals can serve not only as a souvenir decoration, but also as an unusual delicacy.

It's a good idea to be careful when working with sugar. Otherwise, the crystals simply will not turn out the way they should be.

Materials and tools

Before you start work, prepare everything you need. You will need:

Instead of kebab sticks, you can use sushi sticks. It will cost more, but such a sugar crystal will be an original gift. If you are looking for a budget option, you can use peeled twigs, cotton wool, thread or hair.

Want to make colorful sugar crystals? Add food coloring. Just don’t forget that they must be natural and of high quality. After all, your children will want to enjoy this sweetness.

To get colored crystals, use food coloring

We will indicate the ratio of water and sugar in the description of crystal growing recipes.

Sugar crystal on a stick at home

For this simple method you will need 5 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water. We will be growing our sugar crystals on mini kebabs sticks.

Take a quarter glass of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, mix. Keep in a saucepan on heat until the sugar is completely dissolved to make a syrup. Pour some sugar onto paper. Roll a stick previously soaked in syrup in it.
Stick dipped in syrup and rolled in sugar
To ensure that the crystal grows evenly, check that the grains of sugar should stick equally on all sides.
Prepare a few sticks and leave them for a while. They must dry completely, otherwise the sugar can crumble when they fall into the hot syrup. The crystal will have nothing to cling to, its growth will stop. It will be better if you prepare the chopsticks in advance, for example, in the evening.
Take a saucepan, pour 2 cups of water into it, add 2.5 cups of sugar. Place over medium heat and wait for complete dissolution, stirring constantly so that the syrup does not burn. After this, add the remaining sugar (2.5 cups) and cook again until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and leave the syrup for 15 minutes.
Preparing sugar syrup for crystal
While the syrup is cooling, prepare the sticks, which should be completely dry by this time. Pierce sheets of paper with them exactly in the middle. The hole should be such that the leaf sits tightly on the skewer.
Place a sheet of paper on the crystal blank
Pour the hot syrup from the pan into transparent glasses. Do not allow the syrup to cool, otherwise the crystal will not grow.
Pour sugar syrup into glasses
If you decide to make colored crystals, it's time to add food coloring to the syrup, adding a different color to each glass.
Add food coloring to syrup
Place the crystal blank in the glass so that it does not rest against the bottom or touch the walls of the dish. A sheet of paper will not only hold the stick, but will also serve as a lid that will protect the syrup from dust.
Place the crystal blank in a glass with syrup

Repeat this procedure with all the pieces and leave to grow. This will take at least a week. The process will definitely captivate your children, because the crystals increase every day. If no changes have occurred during this time, you will have to repeat the procedure from the beginning.

A quick way to grow a treat

Not everyone is willing to wait a whole week to get sugar crystals. Therefore, you can use the following method, which will allow you to quickly grow sweetness. For it you will need a small saucepan, hair or strong thread and sugar.

Fill a saucepan with water, put it on the fire, and boil. Start gradually pouring sugar into the boiling water and do this until it stops dissolving. This will give you a rich syrup.
Remove the pan from the heat and leave the syrup to cool for a while. Just in case, you can prepare a little more sugar solution: you may need to add it.
Select the largest crystal of dry sugar. It needs to be wrapped with thread or hair and secured.
Dip the thread with the crystal into the syrup so that it is in a strictly vertical position, without touching the bottom and walls of the dish. To do this, you can wrap the other edge of the thread around the branch and place it over a pan with a sugar solution.
Place the entire structure in a warm place. The syrup should cool slowly. Otherwise the crystal will turn out wrong. As the liquid level in the saucepan decreases, add the cooled sugar solution.

It will take several days to grow crystals from sugar.

To grow a sugar crystal this way, you will need 2-3 days.

Note! Some craftsmen advise not to make syrup for adding, but simply add sugar if necessary. But you need to do this carefully and not overdo it: excess sugar will simply settle to the bottom and will not take part in the crystallization process.

Mandatory rules

During the cooking process, you must adhere to some recommendations:

The sugar must be distributed evenly over the stick. This way the crystal will be almost symmetrical;
Dry the pieces thoroughly after soaking them in syrup and rolling in sugar. The grains of sand should not fall off, because they are the basis for the future delicacy;

Sugar sticks must be hung strictly vertically. Make sure that they do not come into contact with the walls and bottom of the dish.

the syrup in which you will dip the workpieces should be slightly above room temperature. This is why it is recommended to grow crystals in a warm room;
The stick or thread with sugar must be hung strictly vertically. Make sure that it does not come into contact with the walls and bottom of the dish.

How to make crystals from sugar (video)

Now you know another way to surprise your loved ones with something unusual. After all, such crystals can become an original gift, and if they are grown on sticks, then they can be used during tea drinking instead of spoons. Approaching the matter with imagination, you will come up with a lot of ways to use this delicacy. Tell us how it turned out in the comments. Good luck to you!