Adventures in making Maple candy...

[smokeyamber]

So we had a bunch of syrup that went moldy and after reading a bit decided to convert it to maple sugar and also to try making some maple candy. First the candy experiment, we brought the syrup up to 245, let cool to 200 and then poured in molds. It solidified into candy all right, but it was of a type that was so sticky you could hold buildings together with it ! I was trying to eat one and it was scary how it would stick to my teeth... serious fillings remover here ! :o Next we tried making sugar, this worked much better, I took some more stuff to 260 and then removed from heat and started stirring... and stirring... and stirring... ughhh feel the burn:evil:... then poof it turned to sugar... very cool.;).. made two pints of sugar.

Next we took the candy, melted it back down and added some more syrup as well. We did this in the same pot that had sugar residue as well. Heated it to 260 going for sugar and then poured into my Hobart mixer to mix ( too tired to use the wooden spoon this time ! ) This time it never went poof and just got creamier. We stopped and checked it and this time we had a nice candy that was more like salt water taffy. Very tasty and easy to work with... success...: though probally not repeatable.

It was great to find a use for "bad" syrup thanks to this site and we now look forward to making all kinds of confections with our syrup.:

Only question out of this is how do you make the sugar candies that are more like sugar than candy ?:confused: Is a cream machine needed ?

[unclebuck]

Originally Posted by unclebuck
I make about 45 pounds of molded sugar candy a year. I always boil to 243 degrees, then cool to 180 degrees. Do not move the pan with the syrup in it until it reaches 180 degrees, as you could cause crystallization to begin prematurely, which would affect the size of the crystals. At this time, start stirring the syrup under a bright light. You should be able to see through the syrup. As you continue to stir, the syrup will turn opaque (cloudy). As soon as you see the first swirl, pour immediately. As you are well aware, waiting too long will cause it to harden in the pan.

To all the maple people out there that have tried my recipe and commented on how easy it is to make maple candy congratts, This recipe is the gallons of tasty mistakes till finally getting it right. Hope everyone had a great season this year 2010 was the worst year i ever had in the 15 years of sugaring and 2011 was the best year i ever had go figure can't wait till 2012. Heading to bascolms this coming saturday for their open house and the 10% discount on equipment any savings is good
Sorry for the repost but eayier to cut and paste

[red maples]

Making candy takes a little practice to know when to stop stiring and pour. once you heat it up to 242 (thats the temp that works for me), then let it cool back down to 190* then start stiring it as soon as you see that very slight opaque color start (sugar crystals) you need to pour I keep some a little warm on the side to rewarm what I am pouring if needed you can pop it in the microwave for a second to rewarm and reliquify it a bit.