Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi is paying it forward by teaming up with the Ball brand home canning products and using her voice and platform to encourage small businesses to enter the Made For More Small Business Fund. Ball brand home canning products will award $10,000 to 10 US-based small businesses who have gone above and beyond to support their local communities during the pandemic.
 
As a lifelong fan of mason jars, Christina Tosi shares her rock candy recipe to inspire home bakers this season.

Christina Tosi’s Rock Candy Recipe

Makes 6-8 gemlike snacks

Ingredients

  • Sticks or candy canes
  • 1 1⁄2 cups water
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 1-2 drops food coloring
  • 1-2 teaspoons extract, optional
  • 2 16-ounce Ball canning jar

Directions

  1. Dip sticks halfway in water, roll in sugar and set aside.
  2. In a saucepan, bring the water and sugar to boil to dissolve sugar. Cool completely.
  3. Color and flavor the sugar water in as many ways as you please and pour into a clean 16 oz. Ball brand home canning jar, filling about 2⁄3 of the way full. Suspend the sugar sticks in the sugar liquid one inch from the bottom of the glass.
  4. Cover with a paper towel or a loose piece of plastic and leave in a space out of the way, unfettered for 5-10 days. Your sugar crystals will form, grow in size and climb up your stocks over multiple days, be patient. Once your rock candy has achieved your ideal size/shape, use a small teaspoon to crack them from the crystallized surface of the glasses and harvest them.
  5. Store in a Ball brand home canning jar with the lid sealed or share immediately.