How to make hard maple candy??

[vermontpure]

I was thinking i would make some maple suckers/lollypops for the kids but not sure how. Anyone have a recipe they want to share?

[ohio sugar]

The only ingredient you need is maple syrup. Start with 2 cups or so and using a candy thermometer, heat the syrup until it reaches 300 degrees. Immediately pull from the heat a pour into candy molds or a baking sheet. Make sure you lightly grease them or it will stick.

Just be very careful. 300 degrees is very hot and it sticks to everything, especially skin!

[ohio sugar]

Also, you want a deep pan to prevent boil over. If it becomes an issue, take a stick of butter and coat the top inch or two of the pan. Believe it or not, stirring actually causes it to boil up so keep it to a minimum. You also want to take the temp up slowly, so don't go over a medium to medium-low heat.

[vermontpure]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I heard I needed to add glucose but figured their was more ideas out here. I'll try a batch tonight.

[Moser's Maple]

i was always told a third, a third , a third
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
boil to 290-300 reduce heat at 275-280 finish with lower heat
pour into molds...... just be very careful because of the high temps!!!!!

[ohio sugar]

i was always told a third, a third , a third
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
boil to 290-300 reduce heat at 275-280 finish with lower heat
pour into molds...... just be very careful because of the high temps!!!!!

The only advantage to using added sugar is you can use less maple syrup. Either way is OK I guess (I've never tried added sugar) but I like pure maple candy myself.

[Moser's Maple]

From the NEW YORK STATE CONFECTIONS NOTEBOOK
5. Maple Suckers/Lollipops and Hard Candy
Our goal was to develop hard candy with 100% maple of with as much maple as possible. Typically lollipop formulation include the use of corn syrup or invert sugar in order to obtain the right combination of sugars to produce hard candy.

Formulation and preparation with corn syrup 500g
75% med amber syrup..........375g
25% corn syrup...................125g
heat till 280 lower heat for final stage
pull off stove at 300 and pour into molds

Formulation and preparation of 100% Maple with INVERTED Maple syrup.....500g
90% med amber maple syrup
10% inverted maple syrup

to prepare inverted maple syrup add .2% of Intervase enzyme to the syrup (available at baking suppliers) mix well and keep at 122 for 24 hours, or longer at lower temperatures
mix maple syrup and inverted maple syrup and heat till 280
reduce heat for final stage and pull off at 305-315
if suckers are too dark boil final stage quicker
now from my personal experiences
the 75 25 maple syrup and corn syrup will make a sucker, but the problem is that the suckers want to wilt over time and while sucking on them they have a tendancy to want to stick to your teath
a 100% maple syrup sucker with out the inverted maple syrup will do the same thing
in my previous post i said to add white sugar..... this is NOT to use less maple, but instead it is to raise the invert sugar level in the hard candy to give the sucker the proper combination of sugars to not want to stick your teeth, and not to wilt in the package over time. A 100% maple sugar is also fine as long as you invert your syrup. the reason to add intertase to your syrup to invert the sucrose in the maple syrup to the invert sugars glucose and fructose. this is what is needed to make your hard candy act like the hard candy your buy in a store the glucose and fructose also enable you to raise the invert sugar levels high enough to make the sucker not want to stick to your teeth when being sucked.
So in conclusion you can make a sucker in 100% maple with changing anything, but for me I like know my product is going remain in good shape over time, and I don't have to worry about replacing some kids fillings
Jake Moser
Moser's Maple

[ohio sugar]

From the NEW YORK STATE CONFECTIONS NOTEBOOK
5. Maple Suckers/Lollipops and Hard Candy
Our goal was to develop hard candy with 100% maple of with as much maple as possible. Typically lollipop formulation include the use of corn syrup or invert sugar in order to obtain the right combination of sugars to produce hard candy.

Formulation and preparation with corn syrup 500g
75% med amber syrup..........375g
25% corn syrup...................125g
heat till 280 lower heat for final stage
pull off stove at 300 and pour into molds

Formulation and preparation of 100% Maple with INVERTED Maple syrup.....500g
90% med amber maple syrup
10% inverted maple syrup

to prepare inverted maple syrup add .2% of Intervase enzyme to the syrup (available at baking suppliers) mix well and keep at 122 for 24 hours, or longer at lower temperatures
mix maple syrup and inverted maple syrup and heat till 280
reduce heat for final stage and pull off at 305-315
if suckers are too dark boil final stage quicker
now from my personal experiences
the 75 25 maple syrup and corn syrup will make a sucker, but the problem is that the suckers want to wilt over time and while sucking on them they have a tendancy to want to stick to your teath
a 100% maple syrup sucker with out the inverted maple syrup will do the same thing
in my previous post i said to add white sugar..... this is NOT to use less maple, but instead it is to raise the invert sugar level in the hard candy to give the sucker the proper combination of sugars to not want to stick your teeth, and not to wilt in the package over time. A 100% maple sugar is also fine as long as you invert your syrup. the reason to add intertase to your syrup to invert the sucrose in the maple syrup to the invert sugars glucose and fructose. this is what is needed to make your hard candy act like the hard candy your buy in a store the glucose and fructose also enable you to raise the invert sugar levels high enough to make the sucker not want to stick to your teeth when being sucked.
So in conclusion you can make a sucker in 100% maple with changing anything, but for me I like know my product is going remain in good shape over time, and I don't have to worry about replacing some kids fillings
Jake Moser
Moser's Maple

You are clearly looking at it from a producer's standpoint with longer shelf life and avoiding lawsuits. I assumed the OP was asking how to make hard maple candy for his kids, so I was simply giving my experience with maple candy which is for my own consumption only (and my kids of course). I may have misspoke when I said the "only" advantage was to use less maple syrup but that is what I have always been told.

In short, make it however you want. I am not trying to argue how to make candy, I am only saying that it is very possible to make maple hard candy with nothing but maple syrup.