TikTok candy melting trend sends Fayette County boy to hospital

When a 9-year-old Fayette County boy attempted to follow a TikTok trend, creating what is known as a Jolly Rancher Grape, he tripped while carrying a bowl of molten candy liquid and suffered severe burns.

“He tripped, and that’s when the boiling hot candy coated his whole hand and his four fingers except his thumb,” his mother, Christina Blackstone, said of her son, Caidan.

The viral trend started a few years ago on the social media platform. It’s recently seen a resurgence. TikTokers can be seen melting Jolly Rancher candies in a bowl by microwaving them. Then, they dip grapes into the liquid using toothpicks before letting the new candy harden.

@yardenjoseph Its been a minute since I made these - jolly rancher, cotton candy grapes! ???? #fyp #fypシ゚viral #foryou #foryoupage #candiedgrapes #candiedgrape #jollyranchergrape #jollyrancher #candiedfruits #candiedfruit #cottoncandygrapes #candygrape #grape #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #tanghulu #food #foodie ♬ Rich Baby Daddy - Drake

Since June, the Allegheny Health Network’s West Penn Burn Center in Bloomfield has seen four patients with injuries from the trend, according to Dr. Ariel Aballay, director of the center.

Jolly Ranchers melt at 350 degrees — which is over 100 degrees hotter than boiling water at 212 degrees. Aballay said second-degree burns can usually heal in two or three weeks, but third-degree burns may need surgery or skin grafting.

TikTok users are speaking out about the trend’s negative effects.

@bethanybreanne Just a tip ???? wear gloves and be careful. A complete stupid accident on my part!! #seconddegreeburn #jollyrancher #jollyranchergrapes ♬ original sound - Bethany

Blackstone, who lives near Uniontown, said her son likes to help her in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, the mother and son decided to try the trend together to save money and have a fun activity to do together after she saw someone on Facebook selling the Jolly Rancher grapes and the trend becoming popular once again.

“For a 9-year-old boy, he is very mature for his age,” she said of her decision to let him help prepare the candy. “He’s used to using the microwave … he was careful up until the point where he tripped.”

Caidan was walking with the bowl up the stairs from the family’s microwave in the basement when he tripped on a stair while walking in flip-flops.

“He tripped, and that’s when the boiling hot candy coated his whole hand and his four fingers except his thumb,” his mother told TribLive.

Their microwave in the kitchen above the stove wasn’t working, so Blackstone said she bought a cheaper one at Walmart for the basement in the meantime.

“It’s almost a blessing in disguise that the one in the kitchen wasn’t working because if he would’ve reached up on a chair to grab it, he could’ve scalded his face or his eyes,” she said. “I’m not grateful it happened, but I’m grateful it’s a hand and not a face or eyeball … it could’ve been way worse.”

When her son was burned by the Jolly Rancher liquid, Blackstone said she went into shock and didn’t know what to do at first because she didn’t know how serious it was.

“He’s screaming,” she said. “I noticed the candy began hardening on his fingers, so I rushed him over to the kitchen sink.”

The molten candy will quickly harden once exposed to cooler temperatures, according to AHN, which makes it adhere more rapidly to the skin and cause more damage.

Using cold water, Blackstone peeled the hard candy from his fingertips — accidentally ripping off skin.

“But at that point, instinct kicked in,” she said. “I had to get this candy off of his hand.”

Caidan was taken to the ER at Uniontown Hospital, and since then, he’s had to be seen about three times at the AHN West Penn Burn Center for follow-up appointments. The four fingers on his right hand had second-degree burns, and the doctor thinks his right thigh could have a third-degree burn that wasn’t noticed initially.

“His blisters formed almost right away the next day when we went in, and they popped his blisters,” Blackstone said of his right hand. “We went in another week later, and they trimmed the dead, dangling skin from his fingers.”

His hands are doing better since then, his mother said, as new pink skin and fingernails are growing back.

Aballay, who is part of the Burn Prevention Network in Pennsylvania, said he started looking into the TikTok trend after seeing multiple patients who had been affected — when there were previously none.

He said he discovered that some people were putting containers in the microwave to melt the Jolly Ranchers without checking to see if they were heat-resistant. Some patients he saw had the plastic melt when they pulled the containers out of the microwave, which led to a hole developing at the bottom of the container.

“It’s something that people have to be very careful about doing,” Aballay said. “This molten candy falls like lava … to the patients’ foot or lower leg.”

Despite the burns, Caidan’s hand should go back to normal, his mother said the doctors told them.

“I do think he will be better before school starts; I know that is one of his worries,” Blackstone said. “He’s young enough to where when you’re a young kid like that your body’s healing stage works very well.”

Impact of TikTok trends

The incident was terrifying, Blackstone said.

“Nobody expects accidents to happen, but when they do … it can be really ugly,” she said.

Though her son was told he’d heal in two weeks, Blackstone said she doesn’t think kids should be involved with this particular TikTok trend.

“It’s just kind of held us up from a lot of things we would do in summertime,” she said, such as swimming, which Caidan isn’t allowed to do for the time being.

Aballay said social media users often don’t see the negative side of what can happen as a result of trying out new trends.

“We just want to inform the people that there are risks associated with the activity,” he said. “They see videos of people doing it and having fun and getting likes.”

And some kids will go ahead and try the trend — regardless of parents’ permission, Aballay said.

“Sometimes the parents are around, sometimes they’re not,” he said. “It’s important for the adults present to provide support if … they know this child is going to go ahead and do this.”

If something does go seriously wrong like in Caidan’s case, Aballay said to seek medical care rather than trying to heal yourself. He said he believes there have been people affected by the Jolly Rancher grapes trend who haven’t sought the appropriate treatment.

“The bottom line is to try to discourage these dangerous activities,” he said. “Whatever the TikTok challenge is, think through potential risk and stay out of trouble.”

Blackstone suggested that a clip should be included at the beginning of the trend videos warning about the possibility of burns.

“I do want other mothers to know that this is probably something that should be avoided,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend anybody to do it, and if you’re going to do it, kick the kids out of the kitchen.”

She said she definitely learned a lesson from the experience.

“You just don’t expect things like this to happen,” Blackstone said.