Candyworld: Rock Candy vs. Cotton Candy

Refreshed after your showdown with the Taffybot, you realize that you’re now 3 for 5 in Kandi Kane’s competition for Candyworld visitors. More than halfway through! Maybe you stand a chance of receiving the super secret special prize that she promised you at the end. Where to next? You check your cards and see that you’re being directed to the Allsorts Arena. Probably the giant shape that you can see right over the next hill.

In no time at all, you’ve made your way there. It’s a great big stadium, and a colorful one at that, its outer walls constructed entirely out of licorice allsorts dyed every hue in the rainbow, and maybe even some extra. There is that tangy anise smell in the air as you walk under an archway and toward the green sugar-grass of the pitch in the Arena’s center. Around you, other Eyewirers are already suiting up into padded sportswear, and Gummy Grims are running around in referee outfits, ushering people to and fro.

“What’s the challenge here?” you ask a passing Grim.

It points up to the scoreboard over your head. The counters are at zero, but the teams are displayed as Team Rock Candy and Team Cotton Candy. Out on the pitch, you observe two dancing mascots. Rock Candy looks crunchy, glittery, and tough, while Cotton Candy looks wispy, misty, and whimsical. Occasionally the mascots run at each other with wooden batons and duke it out.

While the Gummy Grim says nothing, the challenge is now obvious. Like your fellow Eyewirers, it’s time to join a team and get ready for a grand melee to decide which is the superior candy-on-a-stick!

Rock Candy

• Made of huge sugar crystals!
• Likes concerts, tattoos, and long rides on its Harley, ’cause it’s all rock ‘n roll.
• The scientific recipe: Supersaturate boiling water with sugar. That means add so much sugar to the water that not all of the sugar will dissolve (4 cups sugar to 2 cups water is good). You can also add food coloring if you want. Pour the thoroughly stirred sugar-water into a jar. Dip a small wooden stick or a string into the sugar-water so that it gets some of the existing sugar crystals on it. Let the stick or string dry out (it might take a couple days) on some wax paper, and use more wax paper to cover the jar. Then it’s finally candy time. Suspend the stick or string in the jar so that it doesn’t touch the bottom, and let it all sit at room temperature for a week. Gradually, you will see the crystals growing bigger and bigger, until finally you’ve got yourself some proper rock candy!

Cotton Candy

• Also called candy floss or fairy floss, and made of heated, spun sugar strands.
• Ever seen cotton candy flowers? Check out this bad boy.
• The scientific recipe: Buy a cotton candy machine? Well, yes, if you have the money and the know-how. But you can also make cotton candy at home without a machine! Start by heating 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup of corn syrup, 1 cup of water, and a pinch of salt over medium heat on a saucepan. Make sure to brush sugar off the sides of the pan so it doesn’t crystallize yet, and make sure the mixture is heated to 320°F (160°C). When the mixture is hot enough, pour it into a heatproofed bowl and add whatever flavor extracts or food coloring you would like. Now, line your table or countertop with parchment or wax paper (all over! the sugar’s about to go everywhere!). Take an old metal whisk and use wire cutters to snip off the rounded parts of the wires so that you’re holding a tool that looks more like a big metal brush. Use this tool to collect the sugar from the bowl, and then hold that gooey mess about 12″ (30 cm) over the paper, swinging it back and forth until the sugar starts to drip in fine strings. Collect each spun puffball that you create on a popsicle stick, and ta da! It’s cotton candy, though since it’s hand-spun, candy floss might indeed be the better name.

Bonuses:
Earn 5,000 points – 2,500 bonus
Earn 15,000 points – 5,000 bonus
Earn 25,000 points – 10,000 bonus
For every 25,000 points above 25,000 – 5,000 bonus
Member of winning team (if you’ve scored at least 2,500 points) – 10,000 bonus
Highest scorer on each team – 5,000 bonus
Player with #1 overall score – 10,000 bonus
Player with #2 overall score – 5,000 bonus
Player with #3 overall score – 2,500 bonus

This throwdown will last 24 hours and begin at 11:00 AM EST on 12/13! Fight for your candy of choice!

Artwork by Tyler Scagliarini