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Rock candy or sugar candy, also called rock sugar or crystal sugar, is a type of confection composed of relatively large sugar . In some parts of the world, local variations are called Misri, nabat or navat.
This candy is formed by allowing a Supersaturation solution of sugar and water to crystallize onto a surface suitable for crystal nucleation, such as a string, stick, or plain granulated sugar. Heating the water before adding the sugar allows more sugar to dissolve thus producing larger crystals. Crystals form after six to seven days. Food coloring may be added to the mixture to produce colored candy.
The modern American term "rock candy" (referring to brittle large natural sugar crystals) should not be confused with the British term rock (referring to an amorphous and opaque boiled sugar product, initially hard but then chewy at mouth temperature).
According to the production process, rock sugar is divided into two types: monocrystalline rock sugar and polycrystalline rock sugar.
It is a common ingredient in Chinese cooking. In China, it is used to sweeten chrysanthemum tea, as well as tong sui and the liquor baijiu. Many households have rock candy available to marinate meats, add to stir fry, and to prepare food such as yao shan. In less modern times, rock sugar was a luxury only for the wealthy. Rock candy is also regarded as having medicinal properties, and in some Chinese provinces, it is used as a part of traditional Chinese medicine.
In Mexico, it is used during the Day of the Dead to make sugar skulls, often highly decorated. Sugar skulls are given to children so they will not fear death; they are also offered to the dead. In the Friesland province of the Netherlands, bits of rock candy are baked in the luxury white bread Suikerbrood. Rock candy is a common ingredient in Tamil cuisine, particularly in the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna. In the US, rock candy comes in many colors and flavors, and is slightly hard to find, due to it being considered old-fashioned.
Two Indian dessert dishes made from mishri and khoya (thickened milk) are mishri-khoa ( kalakand) and mishri-peda, which are more commonly eaten in northern and western regions of India, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Gujarat; as well as Odisha and northern coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The Ghantewala Halwai, a sweet shop in Delhi, which began by selling mishri mawa in 1790, is famous for mishri khoa and sells 40 varieties of sweets made from mishri.
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