Suckers, Lollipops and Flavorful Treats - Part 1

For weeks now one of my daughters has been asking to have friends over and make homemade suckers. We make suckers several times a year. We then make them into "bouquets" and deliver them with "thank you" notes to people who have supported us, taught us, or have been kind to us.

The girls had a day off school today so we thought it would be a good day. There is so much information, I will make it a two day post. Today, I will focus on the items needed.

First you need Sugar, corn syrup, water and flavorings. I like a stainless steel pan and a wooden spoon. Stainless keeps the sugar from scorching and the wooden spoon keeps your hands cool. A metal spoon would get hot.

I bought most of my sucker molds at yard sales, second hand stores or when friends know I make them, they give me some. I have gotten some new with store credits but I now have at least one set of every sucker mold set available to my knowledge. We have one for each holiday and many all occasion sets.

Sometimes the sets have come with some clips missing, I made clips out of thick copper wire. They work fine.

Next, you need sticks. I can buy them in my town locally but there are marked up quite a bit from the bulk cooking supply stores. The same goes for flavorings. I suggest you look online at molds and supplies. The sticks are just over $1 for 100 at the bulk stores. Local stores may be more. They have several sizes and types. There are plastic sticks, paper sticks and short vs. long. Most sucker molds use the shorter paper type.

Flavorings can be acquired at many places. Sometimes I wait until the holidays are over and stores (pharmacy's usually have them) are trying to clearance them so you can get them a bit cheaper. I have gotten more popular and common flavors at the grocery store. Most berries, mint, coconut etc can be purchased in the baking section. The large cooking supply stores have the bigger bottles and many more flavors. Since we make them often, and I wanted to have them on hand for emergency preparedness, I bought one of each flavor we were missing last year as a Christmas gift for the girls. I typed up a list of what we had as it was frustrating pulling out each bottle every time to let them know what flavors we had available. It has come in handy.

If you have a food handlers permit, you can make and sell the suckers. I thought if times were tough, people cut down on buying treats but with all these flavors and stocks of the ingredients, it is a nice gift and could be an inexpensive treat that people would buy. I didn't use a full jar of corn syrup and only used 7 cups of sugar and we made over 100 suckers. The sticks were about $1.00 and the bags were about $1. A bottle of flavoring lasts a long time so once you have the molds, (which would be the biggest expense) it is a fairly inexpensive treat.

The bags to put the suckers in can be different. I bought several sizes at the local supply store. Sometimes the suckers are a tight fit. The bottom of the bag is open and you have to tie ribbon or put tape on the bottom to keep it sealed and sometimes they slip off or the sucker is a bit big and it is hard to get a ribbon around it. They are usually $1 for 100. They have three sizes, the larger cost a bit more.

Shopping around, I found zip bags in the craft section at Wal-Mart 100 for around $1. They have two sizes which are perfect for suckers. I like that I can seal them around the stick and sometimes you can fit the sucker and stick inside and seal it all inside the bag.

Now you are ready for the fun to begin!