Rock candy at the bottom????

[The Butcher]

Hi All,

Not sure why this happened?

I went to look at some left over jars of the different batches from last year. One of the batches (2 bottles left) is almost half full of rock candy from the bottom up? The left over bottles from other batches did not have this problem.

Why?
Was it too thick at bottling time?

Thanks for any help.

[treehugger]

The formation of rock candy is a result of supersaturation of sugar molecules in water. so yes, it was a little too "thick". But very delicious no doubt.

[happy thoughts]

I had this happen a few years back when I first started hobby syruping. You may have boiled off too much water so that the syrup had a higher sugar concentration than standard. The pros that use more sophisticated equipment like hydrometers can probably tell you better. I'm still at the stage where I'm just using a candy thermometer to figure out when I've arrived at syrup. I do use altitude and pressure readings (taken from Accuweather for my location) to calculate the boiling point on those days I'm finishing a batch of syrup. That seems to help over just winging it:) Since then I haven't had a problem with rock candy, if you can call it a problem. It tastes pretty good though a little hard to pour over pancakes.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

you boiled it past maple syrup and into candy stage is how I understand it. Just like honey when it does it.

[The Birdman]

Have done this myself to prove a point. One of my know it all buddies said his dad made maple syrup years ago that was a lot thicker than mine. I proved to him if I made it thicker I would make rocks. He told me where his dad made it, I remember a sorgum mill there. Bet that's why it was thicker.

[Greg Morin]

dont throw the rock away it is great stuff!!

[The Butcher]

Thanks guys that was what I thought.