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Lollipops from Dylan's Candy Bar are displayed at J.C. Penney in New York City. Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP
Halloween is almost here. Soon you'll have a pile of candy. Think about all the forms it can come
in. Some will be smooth and chewy, like caramel. There will be gummy animals and a rainbow of
lollipops. All of these sweets are made with the same main ingredient: sugar. So how can candy
take on so many different forms? It is all about what happens to the tiny parts that make up
sugar.
Alton Brown is a chef on TV. He knows the secret to making candy. He says it is "controlling the
size and shape of sugar crystals."
Crystal Patterns
Each grain of sugar is a crystal. The crystal is made up of tiny building blocks. These blocks fit
together in a repeating pattern. The building blocks that make sugar crystals are called sucrose.
Sucrose likes to stick to other sucrose. This is how the crystal pattern forms. When sugar gets
How candy feels depends on sugar crystals. Different types of candy have different sizes of
crystals. Chefs are able to make different sugar crystals. They do this by changing the speed of
how sugar syrup cools. Cool it slowly and big crystals form. The biggest crystals make rock
candy. You can put a string into a glass of sugar syrup. Let it cool down slowly over several days.
The sucrose will move together. Giant crystals will form on the string.
What is the opposite of rock candy? It is candy that has no sugar crystals at all. It's called glass
candy. Lollipops are a kind of glass candy. It is made by cooling syrup down fast. The sucrose
clumps together randomly so no crystal pattern is formed.
Chewy candy is somewhere in the middle. It has lots of tiny crystals instead of a few giant chunks.
Chefs do this by cooling syrup slowly. They have to stir it as it cools.
1 Read the following paragraph from the section "Glass Candy, Chewy Candy."
What is the opposite of rock candy? It is candy that has no sugar crystals
at all. It's called glass candy. Lollipops are a kind of glass candy. It is
made by cooling syrup down fast. The sucrose clumps together randomly
so no crystal pattern is formed.
2 Which sentence from the section "Crystal Patterns" shows HOW different sugar crystals are made?
(C) They do this by changing the speed of how sugar syrup cools.
3 What information will the reader find in the introduction [paragraphs 1-2]?
(B) what chefs like Alton Brown like about chewy candy
(C) how much time it takes to stir syrup for chewy candy
1 Read the following paragraph from the section "Glass Candy, Chewy Candy."
What is the opposite of rock candy? It is candy that has no sugar crystals
at all. It's called glass candy. Lollipops are a kind of glass candy. It is
made by cooling syrup down fast. The sucrose clumps together randomly
so no crystal pattern is formed.
2 Which sentence from the section "Crystal Patterns" shows HOW different sugar crystals are made?
(C) They do this by changing the speed of how sugar syrup cools.
3 What information will the reader find in the introduction [paragraphs 1-2]?
(B) what chefs like Alton Brown like about chewy candy
(C) how much time it takes to stir syrup for chewy candy