Homemade image candy (cut rock candy) | No special equipment or ingredients needed

***RECIPE***

1 cup (237mL) lemon/lime juice
3 cups (600g) sugar
1 cup (237mL, 312g) corn syrup (or any invert syrup)
1 cup (237mL) water
gel-style food coloring

Reduce the citrus juice down to a syrup in a wide pan at the lowest heat possible — the lower the heat, the better the flavor.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan. Cover and bring it to a boil on high heat. Boil most of the water out, until the temperature is about 310ºF/154ºC. Be careful — syrup this hot is very dangerous if it gets on you.

Take it off the heat and let the syrup cool down in the sauce pan, stirring occasionally. Eventually the syrup will start solidifying along the sides and you'll need to scrape it off and into the center where it can re-liquify.

When it's barely loose enough to stir anymore, stir in the citrus syrup — again, the flavor will be better if you protect it from very high temperatures. When the syrup has cooled to the point where you won't be able to get it all out of the pot, it's probably ready to work.

Pour as much of it as you can out onto a heat-safe work surface, and quickly push it around with your spoon before it sticks to the surface (it is also sure to stick if it's too hot). VERY CAREFULLY, start touching the molten candy mass with your hands, for just a second at a time before it burns you.

(If it's way too hot, it'll stick to your hands and badly burn you — it's only ready to handle when it's a semi-solid mass. You can wear food-grade latex gloves so that if you get hot syrup stuck on you, you can tear them off. And/or, you can have a bowl of cold water nearby that you can plunge into if you get hot syrup stuck to you. Either way, you are going to burn yourself. This is a dangerous thing to do, and if you are not experienced working with hot things, I don't think you should do it.)

Fold the candy mass around to bring the cooler exterior into the hot interior and equilibrate the temperature. I work it for a second at a time before dropping it back down on my stone counter again before it burns me. Once the whole mass cools to the point where you can start stretching, start stretching — pull the candy out into a long rope, fold it over on itself, repeat. The goal is to work air into the candy.

Keep stretching until the candy is white and satiny. Use scissors to cut it up into as many different chunks as you plan to color individually for your design. To color the first lump, warm it back up to working temperature in microwave — nuke it 2-3 seconds at a time, flip it, repeat. (If you microwave it for too long, it will melt onto the floor of the microwave and you will burn yourself trying to lift it out.)

You'll have to fold and stretch the candy a few times to bring the whole lump back to thermal equilibrium. Once it's at a workable texture, make a little well in the lump and pour in your gel-style food coloring. Fold and stretch the candy to work the coloring through, re-heating as necessary.

Slowly assemble your design thusly. If you need more details, consult someone else — I'm terrible at this. Roll the finished candy into the thinest ropes possible and let cool before cutting. I put a storage bin in the sink, suspend the candy over the edge of the counter and cut with my knife, letting the candy fall into the bin. Once cut, keep it in an airtight container or it'll get sticky.

[kjgfdsa]

started watching lofty pursuits a few years back and also became interested in image candy. This is the first time I've genuinely considered making it

[Nighthawkinlight]

Serious credit for figuring this out, particularly the microwave bit. I wouldn't have thought to even try making image candy without a heating table.

[jonesygarcia]

Adam really is a jack of all trades when it comes to food, dude just loves learning. Reminds me of my mom when she makes the dinner menu, had the classics but occasionally there is always something unpredictable. Sometimes something out of the ordinary like this candy. Man, I love my mom, I imagine it’s the same for Adams family.

[TMDElite]

Honestly, never would have expected such a labor-intensive and intricate recipe from Adam... not because I didn't believe him capable of such intricacy and labor, but because Adam is more known for simplifying and reducing complex recipes into their most basic forms, ones that require the fewest steps, largely avoid requiring expensive equipment or unitaskers and dirty the fewest dishes (or use items that can't fit in the dishwasher). So it's cool to see Adam attempt to make an item that is very much ill-suited to the home kitchen and could so easily and inexpensively be purchased elsewhere. Keep the more experimental stuff coming 👍🏻

[lucdamiani]

A tip for handling hot foods like this that I picked up from working in a banquet hall: cotton waiter/butler gloves. We would wear two pairs of those with some food grade latex gloves over top so we could pull hot food trays out of the warming ovens quickly and efficiently. I think they'd work wonderfully in this application.

[thomasbonatti]

There's a great channel for image candy. Lofty Persuits (and Public Displays of Confection). Greg runs a candy shop in Tallahassee FL, and he explains everything he's doing. (I've seen some of the other videos of image candy making, and the one's i've seen don't explain what or why they do stuff)

[catylynch]

When I was little, my Uncle brought me some lollipops from France, which had pretty floral designs running through them. I remember the citrus flavor, nicely offsetting the sweetness. And, when I visited the U.K., a British-born colleague asked me to bring her a "stick-of-rock, " which was a long roll of candy, like you produced ... only thicker. The one I found had a rather detailed design of Queen Elizabeth's profile running through it. Amazing.
There's no chance that I'll try it. But, I thank you for being; curious enough, patient enough and brave enough, to share it.

[keithyinger]

I make my own candy canes every year. I have an old round marble slab that used to be a table but got 1/4 of it broke off. I took it home with me and now I put it on top of my stove and have a nice marble table to pour candy out onto. I'll flavor the entire batch peppermint and then dye half of it red, while leaving the other half clear. Stick the two logs together and start pulling ropes. Twist it, cut off a length, and make a cane shape. If you pull the clear candy enough, it almost turns a whitish color.
I also had to try dual flavors a couple of years ago. So I flavored half a batch root beer, the other half vanilla, and then twist them together. I call it root beer float and it's super delicious.

[deltachange]

I've done some sugaring and hard candy. Your warps come from the stretching instead of rolling. If you pull it laterally you warp the inside image. Rolling it down evenly stretches it without warping.

[bratdfortd]

Found your channel when looking for recipes after deciding to cook everyday in January. I love the tone of your videos and especially how you empower the home cook to think and make our own decisions instead of following your exact recipe! Thanks Adam!

[SuborbitalSays]

I've actually learned the best method is to put the image on the cutting board instead of directly into the candy as the candy absorbs the image while you cut it

[xempire]

Just want to say this is my favorite type of content you make!!!
Its a recipe many people wouldn't even imagine making and you make it extremely approachable and explain the differences between home and professional cooking and prove with a little effort and some Jank work arounds its possible to make just about anything in the home kitchen.

I made your three-day lasagna for my family over the holidays, and they loved it! I can't wait to make this for them to!

[talos_the_automaton]

3:18
I agree, I tried making those Dalgona Candies from squid game one time, and I accidentally touched the tip of my nose with a stick I used to stir the syrup. The tip of my nose was burnt for around 2 months.

[morocuda]

"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but far more efficient than a master of one". Keep up the work Adam! Love your variety.

[Lilhawke]

I often quote Adam when cooking. My wife asked if we're friends. I said yes but he doesn't know it.

[ignatz]

this is the first time in the two years I've watched this channel when I have an ingredient (citric acid) readily available in every single store near me when you don't. Never thought I'd see the day.
unless you do but you implied that you don't

[brynshannon]

On the one hand, for realistic home-cooking, this is INCREDIBLY impressive! On the other hand, this is a couple of places to dangerous even for me, who is a little crazy in the kitchen anyway. Good show, I have to say!

[nottelling]

Mint is one of those things that you can buy *food-grade* oil for pretty easily. It's a great alternative flavoring for those that aren't confident in reducing juice without burning it. It's also great in rock candy, which is easy enough to make to be a great project to do with kids.

[pnwmeditations]

Candy-making TikToks are so incredibly satisfying, especially the cooling table and that press that cuts the strips of candy into a bunch of pieces at once.

[matttaheri]

One of my FAVORITE YouTube channels that goes over all these kind of candies is Public Displays of Confection! They go into history of these candies and many other treats!