Rock candy#Misri

Etymologically, "sugar candy" derives from late 13th century English (in reference to "crystallised sugar"), from Old French çucre candi (meaning "sugar candy"), and ultimately from Arabic qandi, from Persian qand ("cane sugar"), probably from Sanskrit khanda ("piece of sugar)". The sense gradually broadened (especially in the United States) to mean by the late 19th century "any confection having sugar as its basis". In the United Kingdom, these are sweets, and "candy" tends to be restricted to sweets made only from boiled sugar and striped in bright colours.{{cite web|website=etymonline.com|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/candy|title=Candy|access-date=3 February 2018|archive-date=22 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222090228/https://www.etymonline.com/word/candy|url-status=live}}

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).{{cite book|author= Richardson, Tim|date= 2002|title= Sweets: A History of Candy|publisher= Bloomsbury|isbn= 978-1-58234-229-0|page= [https://archive.org/details/sweets00timr/page/90 90]|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/sweets00timr/page/90}}

Islamic writers in the first half of the 9th century described the production of candy sugar, where crystals were grown through cooling supersaturated sugar solutions.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sugar-cultivation|title=SUGAR|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica|access-date=2 March 2018|archive-date=2 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302164227/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sugar-cultivation|url-status=live}} One of the famed makers of rock candy in the Muslim east is Hafiz Mustafa 1864 in Istanbul, founded during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/life/hafiz-mustafa-istanbul-confectionery-now-exporting/2197930|title=Hafiz Mustafa: Istanbul confectionery now exporting|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214185924/https://www.aa.com.tr/en/life/hafiz-mustafa-istanbul-confectionery-now-exporting/2197930|url-status=live}}

According to the production process, rock sugar is divided into two types: monocrystalline rock sugar and polycrystalline rock sugar.

Rock candy is often dissolved in tea. It is an important part of the tea culture of East Frisia, where a lump of rock sugar is placed at the bottom of the cup. Rock candy consumed with tea is also the most common and popular way of drinking tea in Iran, where it is called nabat; the most popular nabat flavor is saffron.{{cite web|website=My Persion Corner|url=http://www.mypersiancorner.com/2013/04/sweet-tea-persian-style.html|title=Sweet Tea Persion Style|access-date=15 February 2016|archive-date=28 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228104137/http://www.mypersiancorner.com/2013/04/sweet-tea-persian-style.html|url-status=live}}{{clarify|date=April 2023}} Rock candy is also prepared in Central Asia under the name of novvot.

It is a common ingredient in Chinese cooking. In China, it is used to sweeten chrysanthemum tea, as well as Cantonese dessert soups 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.{{Clarification needed|date=April 2025}} 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.{{citation needed|date = June 2012}}

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 sûkerbôle. Rock candy is a common ingredient in Tamil cuisine, particularly in the Sri Lankan city of Jaffna.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} In the US, rock candy comes in many colors and flavors, and is slightly hard to find, due to it being considered old-fashioned.

{{Infobox food

| name = Misri

| image = 250px

| caption = Misri crystals

| country = India and Iran

| type = Rock candy or sweetener

}}

Mishri (or misri) refers to crystallized sugar lumps, and a type of confectionery mineral, which has its origins in India and Iran, also known as rock sugar elsewhere.{{cite web |url= http://www.tarladalal.com/glossary-misri-1150i |title= Glossary: Misri |website= Tarla Dalal |access-date= 12 June 2016 |archive-date= 24 June 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160624194855/http://www.tarladalal.com/glossary-misri-1150i |url-status= live }} It is used in India as a type of candy, or used to sweeten milk or tea.{{cite book|author=Dar, Bashir Ahmad |title=Studies in Muslim philosophy and literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-zjAAAAMAAJ|access-date=9 August 2011|date=January 1996|publisher=Iqbal Academy Pakistan|page=168|isbn=978-969-416-054-2}}{{cite book|author= Baden-Powell, Henry|title=Hand-book of the economic products of the Punjab: with a combined index and glossary of technical vernacular words|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookeconomi00powgoog|access-date=9 August 2011|year=1868|publisher= Thomason Civil Engineering College Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookeconomi00powgoog/page/n548 307]–}}

Two Indian dessert dishes made from mishri and khoya (thickened milk) are mishri-mawa (kalakand){{cite web|url=http://www.chezshuchi.com/Kalakand.html|title=Kalakand|website=chezshuchi.com|access-date=12 June 2016|archive-date=23 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623204908/http://www.chezshuchi.com/Kalakand.html|url-status=live}} 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,{{cite book|title=Hardy's Encyclopaedic Guide to Agra, Delhi, Jaipur, and Varanasi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug9DAAAAYAAJ|year=1970|publisher=Hardy & Ally |location=India}} is famous for mishri mawa and sells 40 varieties of sweets made from mishri.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

Rock and rye is a term used both for alcoholic liqueurs and cocktails using rye whiskey and rock candy, as well as for non-alcoholic beverages made in imitation thereof, such as the "Rock & Rye" flavor of soda pop made by Faygo.{{cite web |date=13 January 2015 |url=http://www.liquor.com/articles/rock-and-rye/#gs.cLsUYZA |title=This is How to Bring Rock and Rye Back from the Dead |website=Liquor.com |access-date=15 April 2016 |archive-date=16 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416051325/http://www.liquor.com/articles/rock-and-rye/#gs.cLsUYZA |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author=Rouch, Lawrence L. |title=The Vernor's Story: From Gnomes to Now|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yv2HI_5ZhcC&pg=PA34|year=2003|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-06697-8|pages=34–}}

• Hard candy
• Konpeitō
• Jaggery, an early form of sugar

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• {{cite book|author=Hadi, Saiyid Muhammad |title=The sugar industry of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yMU_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA96|access-date=9 August 2011|year=1902|publisher=Printed by F. Luker at the Government Press}}

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• {{cite web|url=http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-rockcandy.html |website=Exploratorium.edu|title= Recipe for rock candy}} – an educational exercise in crystal and candy making (it may vary on however you want to make it).

{{Sugar}}

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Category:Candy

Category:Crystals

Category:Types of sugar