Rock sugar is crystallised sucrose grown into large, hard, glassy crystals rather than the fine grains of ordinary table sugar. Known as bing tang in Chinese and misri (or mishri) in South Asia, it is made by dissolving refined or partly refined sugar into a hot saturated syrup and letting it recrystallise slowly, often on strings or sticks, into chunks that look like translucent quartz. Chemically it is the same molecule as any other sugar — pure sucrose — but its slow, clean crystallisation and its very low surface area give it a milder, less cloying sweetness, a glasslike bite and a reputation across East and South Asia as a "purer," gentler sugar for teas, tonics and slow-braised savoury dishes.