This Winter Science post, How to Make Snow Candy, is a delicious lesson. Teaching this Chemistry lesson is 100% guaranteed to create a reaction!
How to Make Snow Candy
Materials Needed:
- Real Maple Syrup
- Clean snow
- Saucepan or pot
- Container to hold snow
- Candy thermometer (we didn’t use this)
To Make:
Pour syrup into a pot and boil. The syrup will start to bubble.
If using a candy thermometer, the syrup should read about 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
At this temperature, you will create taffy. If it gets hotter than 240 F the candy produced will be harder and crunchier than soft, sticky taffy. Once the syrup reaches 240 F, pour over the snow.
Our Snow Candy
Our first attempt to make Snow Candy: To be honest, the first time we did this experiment, it did not work. We ended up with a maple syrup slushie.
I did not have a candy thermometer, so even though I boiled the syrup until we saw it starting to bubble, I still hadn’t boiled it long enough.
Our second attempt to make Snow Candy: The second time we did this experiment, we boiled the maple syrup longer to make sure it was hot enough.
Once the syrup started to bubble, (continuously stir, so as not to burn) we continued to boil it over medium heat, for another 3-4 minutes.
We packed more snow into our containers making the snow thicker.
Then we spooned out our super boiling hot maple syrup on to our fresh fallen snow collected.
Pre-experimental questions that I asked my boys (students):
- If you put a jar of pure maple syrup in the freezer, do you think it will freeze?
- What will happen when we pour maple syrup on top of the snow?
- Does a packet of hot chocolate dissolve faster in hot milk or cold milk? Discuss.
- What sugar is in maple syrup? sucrose
The Chemistry Behind Snow Candy & Sugar
We read and studied more into the science of sugar to try and understand the chemistry behind our snow candy experiment. Our next post, The Sweet Science of Candy Making, explains all the answers to our questions including an explanation of the Chemistry behind the different candy stages and the science of sugar.
The Sweet Science of Candy Making post is a follow-up to further explain the chemistry behind that snow candy. You won’t believe how deliciously simple and tasty Chemistry can be explained.
