Making Maple Cream with a Candy Machine

[GeneralStark]

Does anyone have any experience doing this?

[Brian Ryther]

Yes. It works very well. It is not very fast but it makes perfect cream with out the expence of a second machine. Very simple, heat the syrup to cream temp, cool the pig in the bath tub until it is 75 degrees, fill the worm trough until the first 3 inches is full, seed with good cream, run until you have cream in trough, open pig valve to 1/2 pencile stream of syrup, open worm trough equal amount, fill first container with first run for sample cream, fill containers, fill last container for samples also. It takes me at least an hour to run all of the cream. While conatiners are filling it is a good time to multi task and make sugar or do the dishes, pay bills, check the trader, etc..

[Randy Brutkoski]

Brian, you know where i live and you need to come over and show us how this is done next time you are over this way. Very simple huh, sounds pretty confusing to me.

[Brian Ryther]

You got it Randy.

[Amber Gold]

I make it as Brian says and for the same reasons. The quality of the cream is excellent and it saves you the hassle of having to spoon fill the containers like you would with a bowl type cream machine. Also, if you put the containers directly onto the scale, you can get them perfectly filled every time. It may take more time to make the cream, but if you figured in the additional time to spoon and weigh containers, it's probably a wash. It takes some practice, but it's easier than making candy because you're not rushing to fill molds.

[802maple]

I have made it with a candy machine before, but the problem I have is I can't make to my standards because it isn't as thick as I like to make it for shelf life. I make mine to the stiffness of refrigerated butter and it will not come out of the worm when you stir it enough to loose the sheen. I like the newer cream machine because of this, my personal preference.

[Brian Ryther]

So easy a 6 and a 9 year old can do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjTbYeg6h7I

[802maple]

Hi Brian when you do it that loose, doesn't it separate on you. I know anytime I have done it that way it will separate in a few days with about a half inch of syrup over the top and you have to stir every time you use it. I am interested in your comment.

[Brian Ryther]

Jerry, consider this, When you are using a turn table or a gear pump the cream is still soft when you are still stirring even after the sheen is gone. If you were to stop the turn table or the gear pump the cream will stiffen up pretty quickly, like the way you like it. By using the candy maker I am dispensing it into the containers instantly out of the auger. If you look closely at the video you can see the the level in the container is not flat like loose wet cream would be. It has a shallow angle of repose as it sets up in the container. So to answer your question, no the cream does not seperate. This is another take that shows the cream better in the container.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50TAENns92U

[Randy Brutkoski]

I am not going to have to learn how to make cream with a candy machine because i broke down and bought a cream mac hine. Now i just need to learn how to make it.

[802maple]

Randy, Come down to the Big-E and I will put you thru the course by making a 200 hundred lbs or more a day

[802maple]

Brian, I did get to look at your second video. I don't like to pour cream as I have never been able to have it come out the way I like it. If it works for you then I can't argue with that.

When I have made it with both the paddle machine and now with a newer gear pump machine I have to push it into the pump with a dowel as it is to thick to go out of the hopper and into the container with out helping it along. This way I have held onto cream for a year without it starting to separate and also comes out smoother then silk. All cream is good if not excellent and I am not condemning yours, this is just the way I make it and I guess I am to stubborn change.

[Brian Ryther]

I agree, almost all cream is good. So good in fact that I had cream samples on my table for the first four weeks of the market season. Last week I did not have any sample spoons and I still was able to sell 20lbs, mostly to repeat customers.
With the new style gear pump don't you still "pour the cream into the containers?
Two method questions
What temp do you bring the syrup to?
What temp do you cool it to?
I am going to 232 and down to room temp, 75ish.

[802maple]

It goes into the containers stiffer then a dog t#$d.
By taking the stem of the filler on the cream machine and going to the bottom of the container and forcing it to flow out like making a creamy, it doesn't have any bubbles which is huge in making cream that won't separate.
I cook it to 23 degrees +- over boiling point depending on the humidity. and cool to 50 degrees or very close to that. Like I said your way works for you and you are selling a good amount so I wouldn't change a thing.

[GeneralStark]

A couple weeks ago I made several pounds of cream for the first time with a candy machine using Stephen Childs' recommendations here:
http://www.nnyagdev.org/maplefactsheets/CMB%20201%20Making%20Maple%20Cream1.pdf

It worked quite well, but the last bit stiffened up too much to come out the spout. I spooned it out instead and it was still great cream. There was a fair bit of variation from the first to come out the spout to the later, but it was all very good. I prefer the stiffer, but it seems tricky to get it to flow out of the machine. ALmost seems like a modified trough specifically for cream with a larger spout would be something interesting to try.

Anyway, I will be making more this weekend so I will keep you all posted how it goes. Thanks for the interesting thread.

[Amber Gold]

Jerry, I make it like Brian and it generally doesn't separate much, if at all...usually comes down to how patient I am in letting it cool down enough and/or how long it sits in trough. I usually heat to 235F...don't adjust to the boiling point of water, just the temp I use...and cool to about 75-80F. From my experience, if I let it get much cooler than that it'll go from being workable in the trough to a brick. It's usually a little loose in the jar when it's first poured, but then stiffens right up over the next 10 min. The finished product is very smooth.

I learned this technique from a local sugarmaker (who I got the candy machine from) and this is how he made all of his cream and made hundreds of pounds a year.

[802maple]

This discussion could go forever and this will be my last post on this. I too have made it with a candy machine, and it was smooth but not totally grain free. Atleast it wasn't for me. It wouldn't be as smooth as I like it in a cream machine either if I stirred at 75 degrees, I have also tried it at that temperature. Like I said earlier, if it works for you then by all means do it, it just didn't work for me.

[Amber Gold]

I've been making cream now for years using a candy machine. Sometimes though I have a problem with the syrup wanting to come out of the trough. Sometimes worse than others. The last time I made it, I couldn't keep it in there...total PITA. I do the same thing every time, so I don't know why it does it some times, but not others. Syrup is cooked to 235F and cooled to below 70F. Any ideas on what's causing this, and solutions to keep it from happening? Making cream later this week, so don't want to go through last weekend's fiasco again.

Thanks