Hungry Scientist

On a recent exploratory foray through Soho, we stumbled on the candy store Papabubble. Their shtick—demonstrating candy-making in an exquisitely minimalist shop—might be a euro-touristy gimmick, but we still swooned for the beakers, sugar, and stainless steel. A lass kneaded a hot log of sugar back and forth to cool it and snipped its tail off for her partner, who then smooshed it onto a lollipop stick and shaped it. Like all noncrystalline candies, lollipops are made by boiling sugar syrup until it only retains 1 or 2% water moisture. Cooling it quickly prevents sugar molecules from organizing and forming seed crystals, resulting in a disorganized collection of molecules, called a glass. A liquid glucose, such as corn syrup, helps to prevent crystal formation because of the length of its molecules, which basically create a tangle that prevents everything else from moving around and finding other little crystals to stick to.

Also on hand were little chips of sweets made with citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, which, when placed on the tongue and activated by spit, created an exciting fizz of carbon dioxide. We thought these were a more artisanal form of Pop Rocks and were excited to make them ourselves. Upon researching the matter, we found that Rocks are actually made by forcefully carbonating then quickly crystalizing heavy sugar syrup. The old-fashioned kind of fizz candy turns out to be a little easier to make at home: just sprinkle baking powder in super-reduced, low-moisture sugar syrup. (Baking powder is made of an acid and sodium bicarbonate [baking soda], which is why it is a complete leavening/carbonating agent.)�