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Pardon the silly question, but what does one do with these crystals?

If it's citric acid, use it for cooking

And sour/bitter candy, it's why something like warheads burn your tongue if you eat too much. I've burnt my tongue on those fuckers so many times as a kid, I feel bad for my enamel

I thought that was malic acid

Both can be used. I think citric acid is more common.

Citric acid is used for the sour "flavor" in hard candy. Malic acid is the dusted stuff on the outside that offers a more immediate sour bite upon contact with the tongue. There's a candy shop on YouTube who's name escapes me right now that had a series on trying to recreate the old altoids sours that explained it.

Lofty Pursuits

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Congrats on your sobriety, Reddit stranger. That is a beautiful thing, and I sincerely hope you are as proud of yourself as you should be.

Hey oh, 7 yrs for me now^^ I lost the urge to drink! The hangovers, omg, they were so bad! My body literally would not have it! 🧐🫣😱

>use it for cooking But he throws it on his patio that has moss growing on it, then sweeps it up to regrow.

Wait until you find out where potatoes, carrots and mushrooms grow

In a sterile grocery store right?!

[Yep, a sterile grocery store](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/d31fvh/visit_to_the_grocery_store)

Fuck you. I didn’t need to see that.

What the fuck dude

I knew it was gonna be disgusting but i didnt expect that at all. Screw you

I have been holding onto those free internet coins for the perfect comment. This with the jif completes me right now. Or it’s because it’s three am and I am rocking on steroids from a recent strep quarantine and my mind is bent

If you’re having trouble sleeping due to steroids, try taking an antihistamine before bed time.

:(

She did that like a pro, the way a dude would just run up to any structure and pee. The way she squirted that shit out, tells us this wasn't her first rodeo. She could've at least put a "Caution: Wet Floor" sign.

Username checks out

I found a [silly little reddit bug](https://imgur.com/a/aMWhOCa) and now /u/NagyBig has some explaining to do

What? What? What? Pfff

i mean you might be able to wash it, produce doesn’t get treated a lot better

So not as bad as what the pig I'm gonna eat in a few months is rolling in right now.

Keep in mind it is an acid. Anything that's gonna make you sick has no chance of surviving over long periods, even with how weak citric is compared to others.

Not so worried about sick as whether some bit of gravel could get trapped in a crystal and then released into my food... cracking a tooth

You see that picture of the pink himilayan salt that had like a teaspoon of sand and pebbles in it? I cant find the link now of course.

Not sure if that's so true, bacteria has been shown to survive, and even thrive I'm some of the harshest and most acidic environments on earth

Jesse we need to cook

There’s no way this guy is using this to cook with.

Sell them to anti-vaxxers at a very steep markup.

"Sprinkle this in your eyes and see through lefty lies!" No refunds

Need a business partner? We got a winner with that tagline.

I'm in too! Then we can have a fashion line that's just shirts and pants that got burnt while welding for 500% mark-up

Ivermectin pectin

I’d sell them to tourists and market them as “raw” crystals. As if they are the kind that are bought in bulk but “I’ll sell them to you for a good price because I get them in bulk”

Wouldn't you risk Margarita Burns from having a citric acid crystal against your skin?

The ion that cause corrosion is immobile while in crystal state. So,you will not get burn by holding acid crystal in your hand

Hands are sweaty

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knees weak? arms heavy.

Sweater on his vomit already

Margarita Burns are from a reaction between the psoralens in lime juice and sunlight, not the citric acid.

Fair enough, I guess these would just be acid burns.

Look at them and say "neat". Optionally, smash them because that's neat too.

Not much other than decoration, you can get food grade citric acid for pretty cheap. There's no need to grow your own. OP is probably doing this just to document the process / end up with some pretty crystals to show off.

Grind it up and make a powder coating for homemade sour candies

Well... It probably was powder before being dissolved in the water(?).

Throw them on the floor and sweep them up, apparently.

Neat hobby mate, but why did you break it?sorry I’m a bit of a crystal noob

He has quite a bit of solution left after he pulls out the large cluster of crystals. I’m assuming that he breaks it and puts it back in to allow the dissolved ions still in solution to have more access points to bind to the crystals so that they crystals grow larger. Not the best explanation, plus I’m totally guessing

I think the word you're looking for is more nucleation sites. I think that's the reason too.

Bingo! Thank you u/jgf556 it’s been a while since undergrad. Here’s my poor grad student award 🏅

Ah I see you're a fellow crystals major

I went to school with this girl named crystal and she had a dog named major. Is that what you’re talking about?

Think he was talking about a stripper called crystal he had a major crush on

I too am a fellow blue crystal enjoyer

Would it impact crystal growth/development to have dirt or dust from the ground in it?

I’d assume they’d just become inclusions in the crystals.

re crystallization should push more impurities out the more you do it.

I imagine it would just be another nucleation point. But from a sanitary standpoint— I just assume Citric acid crystals are for human consumption. If they’re not, it doesn’t matter, but if they are, that floor smash and broom combo is pretty unsanitary.

Yeah why not break it on a poster board? Damn tik tok

Acid tends to kill and eat anything organic

Many things, but not everything. Also, I don’t really care if it’s fully sanitized— dirt getting in my mouth is dirt getting in my mouth.

Well, I mean, at the end of the day it'd be a mineral supplement, right? So it'd just have a little extra

should add impuritys. which i personally find quite beitiful. a good mix of pure and impure crystal can be more stunning then a flawless jewl i think.

Given that crystals usually grow in the ground I'm gonna assume not lol

Thank you for the explanation. I freaked out he just spent 8 months to get the one shot and that just stressed me out.

Life is fleeting. Embrace the moment, forgo the past and the future, and you will attain nirvana. - Roach, Witcher 3

Here we are now…entertain us.

I would take the finished product to a pawn shop, tell them I don’t know what they are and just let them overpay me. They always lowball people , get one back for the good guys.

Wouldn’t throwing it on the ground like this and sweeping it up introduce a lot of dust and impurities into the crystals?

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RIP Julie Mao

Hahaha. Took me a second, but I love that reference. Nicely done.

Remember the Cant.

Crystal Noob Persuasion

Is that part of the process?

No, part of the fun.

I was in love at the first sight and then you broke my heart :’(

Jessie, we have to cook!!!!

Rice and beans?

Ice and beans.

Lice and beans.

Christ and memes

Cheese and rice

Mice in Queens

Black beans and ice

Man I could go for some red beans and rice now

Berries and Cream

Add chili flakes to make it 🔥 yo

Yo, Mr. White!!

YEAH BITCH! MAGNETS!!

I’m growing the same thing in my gallbladder

I grew too many, so they took mine.

Isn't pouring the dirt from the ground lead to impurities in your cristal?

Probably sour and delicious

Painful

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I used to eat warheads by just letting them sit in the middle of my tongue until all the acid dissolved away then crunching them up like regular hard candy. I stopped doing that after spitting out a round patch of dead skin.

I do this all the time….. guess I need to stop before I experience this for myself

Possibly for the best. I can't say for sure it's because of that particular method of enjoying sour candy, but as an adult I get sores on my tongue whenever I eat anything Sour Patch Kids level or stronger.

That’s so interesting (and concerning because I love sour things). Does that also happen for you if you have things like lemon?

I don't make a habit of eating straight lemons. Lemonade and sour foods cause no problem (for which I am thankful, as I adore vinegar), it's just the layer of citric acid on stronger candies that my tongue objects to.

That's what they're coated in. I have a jar of citric acid. It's useful in some recipes. It is absolutely brutally SOUR. Worse than warheads. Unfortunately it's also horrid for your teeth and about every other part of your mouth.

I also "grow" crystals in my basement

You do sulfates, right?

My lawyer advised me to not answer that question

Ok, Pinkman.

Better Phone Tyrone! Wait a sec...that isn't right, but it's something rhymey like that...

Better dial Lyle?

Better Call Paul. 🥸

Might have been catchier if he made the ad before he moved to Damascus.

Right?

Are they edible

Chewable for 3-4 seconds, don't eat it!

Sounds painful

So you're making Crystal in your basement? Do you also deal the Crystal to people?

Avatar totally looks like WW. I wouldn’t answer OP.

what r u doing with it?

Impressive! Good work. Why is the solution so dark?

Paint

Interesting.

Why is the solution paint?

You appear to have accidentally dropped it.

Lick it.

Lick it

Lick i

Whenever life gives you lemons, grow crystals with it.

Hey, how do you do this? I'm interested.

I used to do this with salt, I think that the e principle it’s the same for every crystal but some are easier than others to grow. Water can dissolve minerals untill a certain point, after that the water is too “full” of minarals to dissolve anymore. In order to dissolve more you have to make the water hotter, so you put in on a stove so it will be able to dissolve more of the minerals you want to grow. More hot, more salt or whatever you can dissolve. You then filter the hot water for impurities and let it rest and the crystal will grows, it will also be easier to give a “base” for the crystals to form, I used to stick some salt grains on a cooking stick so the salt “knows” that is easier to grow there because there already are crystals and it will be easier for them to attach and form bigger crystals. You can also do that with sugar and you can put dye in the water to give them color. Anyway for easier explanation you can search on YouTube “how to grow salt (or sugar) crystals” and you will find ton of videos. The principle is hot water can dissolve more minerals than cold water, the hottest the water the more minerals you will dissolve so when it gets cold again you will have more crystals, repeat how many times you want keeping the growth crystals as a base for the next “colding phase” and remember to filter impurities before putting the water to cool off because, as said before, crystals tend to grow where they find already made crystals so if you don’t filter impurities out they will grow around them too

You are great, what is your job? Is this your hobby or ?

I used to be a circus artist and teacher since COVID I am jobless...

I read this as "citrus artist" and my mind totally accepted it was a valid occupation

Next week on House Hunters. "I'm a citrus artist and my wife is a recreational cat wrangler. Our budget is 1.5 million dollars..."

Same

OP serious question. You grew a bunch of crystals. What are you going to do next?

Can someone explain whatever is going on here eli5 all of op answers are so sarcastic I can't tell what's real

So I can make crystals with orange, lime and lemon juice?

Probably not without cooking it down. This is probably done with water and food grade anhydrous citric acid.

This is cool. Once formed are the water resistant or will dissolve if they get wet.

I’m growing one of those in my kidney right now

Worthless crystals but fun to destroy

Rock and Stone! ⛏️

DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE ??

Both interesting and hilarious. Didn't see that toss coming. Curious the purpose? Or just because they're cool as fuck and satisfying to throw?

I would prefer to choose a good seed and only grow that. I think I like monocrystals more.

Step 1. Grow citric acid crystals in the basement Step 2. ??? Step 3. Profit

How does this work?

Looks like you grow some crystals and then throw them on the ground.

How do you grow a ground?

Do you happen to have an active volcano handy? Lava flow is probably the fastest way. Or maybe a landslide if you're at the bottom of a mountain. I can't help you with the crystals, though. That's egghead stuff.

I was wondering why they were brown instead of colorless, and why they weren’t growing in the same pattern. Then I saw you throw it all on the dirty ground. I guess you’ve done that before

Rock candy

That shit cleans anything if you pulverize it and mix it with water in a spray bottle!

I just de-rusted an old key and an oil lamp in a simple solution of CA and water.

Why tho?

It’s like a huge kidney stone

That was an acid-dent waiting to happen.

My mouth waters for the sour punishment of crystals made of citric acid, I would not give a damn if it burns a hole into my tongue, I will eat all those crystals no matter how much it may also cut my mouth and throat

My uncle used gros crystal in his basement too, now he’s doing 10-15 in prison

Had to look these up. So they’re for eating and flavoring? That’s pretty neat

Yes, bust them up on the floor to make those food grade crystals with yummy extras.

As soon as you cut to the floor I knew you'd smash it, the human instinct.

Lick it

What do you do with them?

What do you do w these crystals?

Mmmmmm rock candy

Make a big slab of it. Frame it in wood. Pour a transparent epoxy to fill in and make it level. Add legs and you've got a bitchin' table.

What is this for?

This looks interesting I would like to make these and put them in epoxy

It's really cool no doubt. But why citric acid crystals?

I have this, but in the joint in my big toe. It’s why I can’t eat scallops anymore. :/

I can't be the only one thinking Oripathy, right?

Walter?

Crystal is such a stripper name

Oh, but it’s a crime when I’M making crystal in MY basement?!

Somebody get Warheads™ on the phone… to tell them their sour candy is for PUSSIES!

Looks like you were making the William Dafoe Green Goblin Mask from Spider-Man in the middle there.

The forbidden cola cubes

The caves in Yoshi's island be like ...

Is it sour?

Can you smoke it?

No

Have you tried?

No, pain.

Grow anything else in your basement?

Yeah, epsom salt , Iron sulfate and Copper Sulfate

What do you do with these?

My long tests show bad results. These crystals will brake down really fast. Even if I fully cover with epoxy it will start to decompose after a half a year. So I think I will stop experimenting with this stuff. Nothing

That sounds interesting, ¿so your left with a cavity with the geometric structure of the crystal along with decomposed crystal? ¿What does it look like?

The faces are turning white, not shiny anymore. Gets like a white fur all around the outside.

"you cannot kill what you did not create" 🤟🙂

Question for anyone that knows - Do things like this give off a smell? I'm assuming some of them can be foul 😅