Here's How To Make 'Kool-Aid Candy'––And Yes, You Need To Try It

If you grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, chances are you remember mixing up a batch of Kool-Aid on a hot summer day. My mom used to babysit our neighbor and I remember he used to drink his glass of red Kool-Aid in two gulps and he’d sport a mustache for the rest of the day, and he didn’t even care. Which really bothered me.

Now I haven’t made any of that sugary liquid in so long, but shit, when my daughter sent me a TikTok with a Kool-Aid and corn syrup candy that you freeze, the memories came flooding back.

I think I was about thirteen the last time I had a glass of Kool-Aid, and my teenage kids have never had it.

So, my daughter and I set out to buy some the other day because she had to try that candy — and honestly, I was kind of excited to see if it would turn out like it did in video.

Now, my children love candy like most kids but here is what I don’t get: They will go for the chewy fruity stuff over chocolate any day of the week. Instead of an ice cream, they want a slushie. Forget the cake or pie, they will take a Ring Pop or a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

When I see them reaching for the Nerds when we go to the movies (instead of Junior Mints or a Snickers, hello) I wonder how we are even related. This is a way of eating my palette doesn’t understand.

So, when they see that you can make a whole bottle of chewy, fruity, gummy candy with only two ingredients at home, they are all over it.

Despite my affinity for chocolate, I have to admit that making this candy, and even watching my kids, was very satisfying. And yes, it does work just as well as the video. Here’s what you do:

Get an empty bottle, fill it with corn syrup and one packet of Kool-Aid (please do this over your sink, you’re welcome), then store it upside down in your freezer. That’s it.

Once it sets up in a few hours, you squeeze the bottle and a firm candy comes out of the top.The best part is you just bite it off. It never freezes, yet stays the perfect consistency so you are able to squeeze and bite whenever you get the urge.

I realize it probably makes your teeth hurt just to think about biting into something that cold and sugary but I have to say, it took a bite of it and even though fruity candy isn’t my thing, it was really good.

The way I look at it, if you let your kids have candy it’s loaded with corn syrup and artificial dye anyway, so why not let them make some of their own and eat it?

We got a few different flavors — black cherry, blue raspberry lemonade, and green apple — and cherry was voted the favorite.

It has definitely been a fun experiment and a great treat for my kids to have on a hot summer day. Of course I love the fact it wasn’t too messy, cheap, and easy … since most things in life don’t seem to be lately.

The best part of course is that it’s squeezable and they can make themselves an entire bottle of candy which, if I think about it, was probably one of my goals as a child too. Since there wasn’t anything like TikTok back then though, I had to settle with saving my allowance and walking my ass to the store if I wanted anything with corn syrup in it since my parents didn’t buy such nonsense.

If you are looking for a cool thing to do with your kids during these last few days of summer, you must give this a try.

And if fruity candy is your jam, you will love this. Just make sure you hide it from the kiddos because believe me, they will suck down an entire bottle of this while you are in the shower and all you’ll be left with is a child with a blue or green tongue who wants you to make them more.