Archive for the ‘Lifesavers’ Category

4 Jan

Fact or Fiction? Take This Candy Science Quiz 0

Posted by Sue Gillerlain

Take this short quiz to see how much you know about candy science.

1. If you put an M&M at the bottom of a beer bottle, the beer will fizz like crazy.

Fact or Fiction?

2. If you drop a few M&M’s into a bowl of warm water, the white M’s will eventually float to the surface.

Fact or Fiction?

3. If you chew Wint-O-Green Lifesavers in the dark, and watch your mouth in a mirror as you’re chewing, you’ll see flashes of blue-green light.

Fact or Fiction?

4. If you add six Mentos mints to a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke, expect a geyser-like explosion.

Fact or Fiction?

***************************************************************************

If you answered “fact” to all of the above, you are correct and probably did not have your mom or dad do your science projects for you.

Back in the 7th grade, my dad did make a “wet cell” for me, so I felt it necessary to do some double-checking on these experiments in my “lab” (a.k.a. kitchen counter) today. Here’s what I found …

Experiment #1
This past New Year’s Eve, a friend mentioned the trick about putting an M&M in a bottle of beer and watching the beer fizz. At the time, we didn’t waste a beer to test his scientific prowess. When I tried it this afternoon, my Bud Light was bubbling like fine French champagne:

Experiment #2
Immediately after my highly successful beer experiment, I plopped a few M&M’s into a bowl of warm water. Sure enough, the little M’s peeled off and floated up toward my camera:

Experiment #3
Unfortunately, I did not have Wint-O-Green Lifesavers on hand, but, according to CandyExperiments.com, “When you crunch the candy, electrons in the sugar combine with molecules to emit light. The wintergreen oil used for flavoring makes the light more visible.”  Sounds awfully scientific, so I’ll take their word for it. (BTW, this is a great site for science projects.)

Experiment #4
My kids have done the Mint Mentos trick with Diet Coke many times, so I can vouch for the reaction. If you visit eepybird.com, you’ll find some great Coke-Mentos experiment videos. Here’s my favorite:

Have you ever done any cool candy science experiments?

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in Candy, Commercials/Videos, Lifesavers, M&M's, Mars, Mentos, Perfetti Van Melle USA, Inc., Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Wrigley

18 Aug

Planes, Boats & Automobiles 0

Posted by Sue Gillerlain | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday, creativity struck in my house. (Run!) My daughter and I huddled in the kitchen to make candy crafts—and spend a near-final summer hour together before the school bell rings.

Now, I’m not a crafty mom, but that’s what makes this exercise all the better. If I can turn out a few candy masterpieces, you can, too! My 9-year-old daughter is artistic, but as genes would have it, I turned out to be the antithesis of Martha Stewart. (Notice my globs of frosting on photos below.)

So, a quick Google search is all we needed to get the following three easy and inexpensive (beautiful words in the Great Recession) candy projects flowing.

Candy Airplane
Inspiration: Family Fun

Materials:
- Sticks of gum (I used Wrigley’s Extra)
- Smarties (Did you know Smarties now comes in chocolate, bubble gum, and X-treme sour varieties? I did not. What rock have I been living under?)
- Peppermint Life Savers
- White paper
- Small, colored rubber bands (I bought tiny Goody brand hair rubber bands at Target)

Super simple instructions:
1. Thread rubber band through the holes of two Life Savers, then balance the roll of Smarties between them, across the rubber band.
2. For wings, balance stick of gum on top, perpendicular to the Smarties, and pull the rubber band up and over each side of the gum to hold it all in place.
3. Decorate wings with tiny stickers, drawings, or messages.

Candy Boat
Inspiration: National Confectioners Association‘s downloadable
Candy Craft Booklet
Materials:
- Orange slices
- Peppermint Lifesavers
- Pretzel sticks
- Rips licorice squares (a fairly new product, but I found it at Target.)
- Gummy bears
- Can of white icing
Super Simple Instructions:
1. Turn each orange slice curve side down (like a boat).
2. Place pretzel stick in center of each orange slice.
3. Cut Rips licorice square diagonally to create two triangles. (Instead of Rips to make the sail, you can wrap a fruit roll cut into triangular shape around pretzel.)
4. Attach licorice “sail” to pretzel with frosting.
5. Attach lifesaver to side of orange slice with frosting.
6. Add gummy bear on top of orange slice and attach with frosting.
Candy Automobile
Inspiration: The Stir
Materials:
- Hostess Ho Hos snack cakes
- Smarties
- Lifesavers
- Bunny Peeps or Teddy Grahams
- Peach rings
Super Simple Instructions:
1. “Glue” the following treats together with frosting:

- Car body: Hostess Ho Hos snack cake
- Driver: Teddy Graham (Bunny Peeps work better, but I had to improvise since it’s August.)
- Seat back: Peach ring (I used mini Nutter Butter cookies, which were a decent stand-in.)
- Tires and Steering Wheel: Life Savers
- Car lights: Smarties

Have you made any easy candy crafts lately?
Upload your finished product pics at Facebook.com/candydotcom.

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in Candy, Candy Crafts, Foreign Candy Company, Inc., The, Gum/Bubble Gum, Gummy, Haribo of America, Inc., Just Born, Inc., Licorice, Lifesavers, Recipes, Wrigley