Make Homemade Suckers

It's easy and fun to make homemade "suckers." All it takes is sugar, water and flavoring. Colors are optional, and clear candy can be appealing. If you want to color the candy, use liquid food coloring in the last step. The best taste is strawberry.

To make hard candy suckers:

Bring two cups of water and one cup of sugar to a boil and continue boiling until the mixture reaches the "hard crack" stage, or when the temperature has reached 300 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove from heat and immediately stir in flavoring, then coloring.

If you want to experiment with flavorings, you can try strong herbal tea - mint, lemongrass or any flavor you enjoy. Add this to the candy before it comes to the hard crack stage.

You can buy molds for suckers or you can hand dip them while the mixture is hot. Keep it on a low heat, stirring often to keep it from scorching. Dip the sucker stick (substitute whatever you have on hand) into the mixture, withdraw it and allow the coating to harden. Dip again, wait until it hardens, then dip again, repeating until the sucker is as large as you want it. If the mixture starts to cool, dip the sucker and swirl as you withdraw it. When conditions are just right, this makes a swirly design.

For really good hard candy, boil fruit juice to the hard crack stage and proceed the same way, without flavorings, of course.

Wrap each piece of candy separately, as it could become sticky in humid weather. Use small pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and twist the ends tightly.