Rock Candy memories... I'll always love Rock Candy ! It reminds me of my Mama, born, July 4th, 1885. Long Island City, was our home in 1930's New York. We kept Rock Candy in an Apothecary jar. We were known as the "Six Singing Santos Sisters." Convinced that Rock Candy improved the quality of our voices. Rock Candy went into our WW2, CARE packages, into our lunchboxes, movie theatres, and the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair. In my opinion; It's the next best thing to chewing on a fresh stick of sugar cane, down in the islands. ~ Lita from California I remember Rock Candy fondly. My mother's parents lived in a small town about 12 miles from us. Every Sunday Dad would pack Mom and all us kids in the car and drive us to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma would fix a huge dinner with fried chicken, gravy, homemade noodles, mashed potatoes, and home grown green beans. After dinner Grandpa would listen to the Cincinnati Reds on the radio and us kids would play outside. We would play tag or hide and seek, or just watch the cars or the Amish horses and buggies drive by the house. We all knew that if we were patient enough that sooner or later Grandpa would call us inside for a treat. And we knew, of course, that the treat would be Rock Candy. He kept the boxes on a shelf in a pantry in the dining room. Once we were allowed to have our treat, he would let us go to the pantry and help ourselves to the Rock Candy. Of course we would always take a generous helping. It must have been pure sugar, it tasted so good and so sweet. Whenever I think of Grandpa, I always think of the Rock Candy he kept in the pantry and how good it tasted. It was the only time we ever got to eat it, and it was sooo good!! ~ Nancy from Ohio When I was a child, from time to time, we would go on school field trips to places like Old Sturbridge Village or Plymouth Plantation, both in Massachusetts. These places were set up as historical reenactments of the days of the Pilgrims. Sure that was fun, but the best part was that in the gift shop they had Rock Candy. Wonderful rock candy that we couldn't find anywhere else around here. History was interesting but the Rock Candy was the best part of the field trip for many of us kids. ~ Tom from Mass. Cut Rock Candy is a Christmas tradition in my family. As a child, I remember using it to make candy wreaths to eat or hang on the Christmas tree. This was something special my aunt had done with us. As the candy got more and more difficult to find, and we got older, we stopped making the wreaths but talked about it every year. We laughed how we always thought we had made more than we ended up with in the end, because we would eat them as made them. It never occurred to us as children to eat the candies that had not yet been made into wreaths. As an adult with a family of my own, the past two years I have searched and found the candy again and my aunt, myself and my children now make these wreaths to hang on our Christmas trees. It is something I will always remember about Christmas and we have already set a date to get together and do this again. These wreaths are made by preheating oven to a low temp, arranging the candies in small pie tins and placing in the oven. The candies melt together and the designs can be seen quite clearly. The tins are placed in the freezer for a few minutes and then pop right out the tins. They make beautiful little candy wreaths that look amazing on a tree. ~ Heather from Pennsylvania. |
