the old way

[Acer]

I have heard that the old way was not to make syrup so much, but to make sugar and pack it in wooden molds.

Anyone have details on what the old process of making and molding sugar was?

Thanks

[adk1]

I have heard that the old way was not to make syrup so much, but to make sugar and pack it in wooden molds.

Anyone have details on what the old process of making and molding sugar was?

Thanks

They talk about it in the NA Maple Producers Manual on how to make it

[DrTimPerkins]

I have heard that the old way was not to make syrup so much, but to make sugar and pack it in wooden molds.

That is true. It is far easier to store a solid than it is to store a liquid. Takes less space. There was relatively little cane sugar around in those times, and it was expensive (coming from the West Indies), was taxed pretty hard, and used slave labor in its manufacture, which many were opposed to. There wasn't any corn or beet sugar around in those days. Mainly just honey and maple sugar.


Anyone have details on what the old process of making and molding sugar was?

Pretty much the same way it is done now. Boil to 250-256 deg F, stir, pour into molds. The molds used long ago were wooden, later tin, currently rubber. The resulting blocks/bricks of sugar would stored dry in barrels, then would be broken into chunks, grated, or crushed to add to recipes or food.

[Hal]

When my father was young there was always a wooden tub of hard sugar in the pantry, with a hammer and chisel handy if you wanted to get some out.

He told me that his grandmother could remember when the price of maple sugar rose to the point where they could swap it even for cane sugar.

She also told about the "problem" of light colored sugar, when people first started boiling in flat pans instead of the old cast iron kettles.

[KenWP]

If you go to antique stores up here you find what they call rich man and poor mans moulds to make sugar.The difference is mainly how well they are made. Used to be a doctor in Stanstead or Derby who could make sugar almost as white as cane sugar and that was a 100 years ago. He claimed it was the way he kept every thing clean.

[maple2]

there is an old farm up the road from me that used to boil with steam.there syrup was so lite they used to throw chunks of maple bark in the pans, while boiling, to give it color

[sugarmountain]

anyone familiar with the old sugaring off rigs with the pans that would flip up or hinge on one side? at least i think thats the correct reference. I found one in the woods made by blanchard and pierce in burlington vt. and it has a maple about 20 inches growing up through it. I allways figured this was for sugar? looks to be about 5x16.

[802maple]

Pretty clever of them to build it right around the tree, saves alot of gathering

[sugarmountain]

No kidding, and fuel allways close by too

[802maple]

Don't you wish you had thought of that, studley

[gmcooper]

I have an original "Agriculture of Maine" by S. L. Goodale 1860. This was a yearly account and report of agriculture for the entire state of Maine. In it at least a couple places there is a push for people of Somerset county to produce an increasing amount of maple sugar. The report cites an aboundance of sugar maples in the area and farmers could better thier financial postion as well as avoid cane sugar if they dedicated more effort to producing maple sugar. There was no mention of syrup at all.
Apparently they finally got the word out as Somerset county Maine is largest maple producing county in the US.