Making Coarse Maple Sugar (Crumble)

[GeneralStark]

When making granulated sugar I often end up with some crumble when I sift. As has been discussed here in the past, the warmer the post stirred sugar is when sifting seems to lead to less crumble and more fine granulated as the bits can be more easily broken up.

My question is this: If I wanted to make more consistent crumble from a batch, how do you think I could do it? I'm not saying for now why I want to do this, but for sake of discussion I am curious if others have any thoughts on a method that would yield consistent coarse bits.

Right now I am using a paddle machine to make sugar, but may upgrade to more significant equipment if this experiment that I am working on proves fruitful.

[abbott]

Ok, so this post was a while ago, but since no one else had any thoughts...

I make about 500 lbs of sugar a year. Believe it or not, I do it all by hand - three quarts of syrup to a batch on the ole kitchen stove. I've discovered that farmers' market customers often prefer the "crunchies" so I've put some effort into maximizing the amount of crumble in a batch. Ultimately I found that any effort to make more crumble decreased the efficiency of stirring and sifting, and when you're doing it by hand...

But here's what I discovered. Turn off the heat around 250* (I normally get up close to 260*) and stir just until the sugar is starting to dry out (it shouldn't flow anymore, but stick together in big chunks.) Then let it rest, stir a bit, let it rest, stir until it is stable. Once it has completely cooled sift and you can get a high percentage of crumble (still only 25-50%). But the process of sifting and grinding up the big pieces into smaller pieces and resifting is time consuming.

I think it would be more effective if you could boil the syrup to the "ideal' temperature (I'd use 250 as my starting point), then stir (whether by hand, in your paddle machine, etc.) until just the right stage of dryness (I think you'd have to learn to recognize it) and then spread the batch out to cool. Once it has cooled you would grind it up (preferably not by hand - in a high quality food processor or grain mill adjusted for a coarse grin, perhaps) and sift. I could imagine getting over 75% crumble this way while still being reasonably efficient.

[lew]

I try and make zero "crumbles" when making granulated. I have been very successful with this by keeping close track of my temperature. This is my process which may help with making crumbles. I usually take a 5 gallon container and turn it all into granulated. I split it up into 4 batches. The first batch I bring to 254 degrees, pour into my paddle style cream machine immediately and stir. when done granulating I push it through a screen immediately while it is still hot. If my boiling temperature was too low the sugar will be wet and difficult to granulate and to push through the screen (gums it up). If my boiling temperature was too high it will dry out and be hard to push through the screen with out making crumbles. I will adjust my temperature accordingly for the next batch (1 degree increments). this being said, I think you could be more consistent at making crumbles if you do what Abbott said (cool, stir, cool, stir, etc.) and use a slightly higher temperature than normal.

[GeneralStark]

Thanks for the advice guys! Based on my experience and others' advice it seems it is all about temperature. I recently started using a commercial kitchen that is unheated. The last time I was in there making sugar the ambient temp was about 45 degrees. I made lots of crumble because as soon as I stopped stirring the granulated sugar began cooling very quickly. Not a big deal as I need the crumble. SO it seems that to make crumble I just need to let it cool more.

I am presently using a stainless mesh sieve for sifting the sugar after stirring. After sifting the fine granulated I allow it to cool til the creep is right, then package. I set aside the crumble and sift it later then package. This has been working fine for small to medium batches but I would like to speed up the sifting.

Lew - When you say you push the sugar through a machine, what do you mean by that? Can you explain this technique?

[doocat]

I would like to know what type of screen or sieves you guys use...Any pics?

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Maybe spritzing during stirring with warm or cool water mist might make bigger grains? Just a guess.
I usually seen larger pieces when there was moisture in the mix.
Wow! 500 lb by hand! You must have huge arms! Might want to get a Hobart mixer!
Regards,
Chris

[lew]

I push it through a screen. I use a piece of stainless steel that has 3/32 holes drilled through it, most people use some sort of stainless screen material. Immediately after the sugar has granulated and is still hot, I dump a bunch of sugar on my screen and push it through the screen with a large, flat, heavy duty hamburger flipper. I just smear it through with a lot of down pressure and a swiping motion. Move as fast possible so sugar doesn't cool and set up to make cruchies

[abbott]

Wow! 500 lb by hand! You must have huge arms! Might want to get a Hobart mixer!


Well, what I didn't tell you was that I had a spell of tendonitis in my wrist this summer and my wife had to take over stirring duties for a while. If I do 5-6 batches on a "sugar day" then I spend a day every 3 weeks or so on sugar.

As far as the Hobart goes, I'm generally reluctant to spend money unless I know it will be worth the investment. I assume that folks who go that route boil it on the stove, then transfer to the mixer and have the mixer do the stirring. It seems like I'm creating another dirty pot and not really even saving time stirring since I'd have to stay right there for the stirring? What size mixer do people use and how big is the batch? I really feel like I need to observe several methods in person before I make an investment.


I would like to know what type of screen or sieves you guys use...Any pics?

I've used a number of strainers, but basically any generic mesh kitchen strainer will work. Some have larger holes than others. You can get one that is big enough to straddle a sink bay - I like using a smaller one more suited to the bowl I strain into.

As far as the actual sifting goes, I prefer to let the sugar cool before I sift because then the granulated sugar falls through easily by shaking and the sifting goes a lot faster than if its soft sugar that I have to push through (though I do have a flat wooden spoon to push the crunches through that break up easily and then I crush the hard crunchies and re-sift those.) If I've done a good job of stirring, there is generally about a fourth of a lb of crunchies out of 5.5 lbs total and the batch is sifted in 5-10 minutes.

There are some things that are a whole lot easier to show than they are to explain. This might be one of them.

[Sugarmaker]

Steve,
Took me 1 day less than a year to get back to you!:)
I think the Hobart would easily do 2 gallons of syrup at on time into granulated sugar. I usually do about a gallon and a half. Yes your getting the boiling pan dirty but what a time and arm saver using the big mixer.
I take the syrup to 260+ and do not have to sift it.
Merry Christmas!
Regards,
Chris

[1arch]

I have been taking my syrup temperature up to 260. I did three separate 1/2 gallon batches yesterday. The first granulated and sifted nicely resulting in very few crumbles . The second two batches remained a bit sticky and produced a considerable amount of crumbles. The humidity in the kitchen starting the first batch was 33%. Humidity for the second and third batches was around 40%.
Although this is the the first time I recognized the humidity as a potential influence I plan to monitor a bit closer since crumbles offer market value also.

[Moser's Maple]

You are absolutely correct with humidity. You need to monitor humidity and barometric pressure when doing multiple batches in a day. You'll need to either adjust temps, but also good to have a good exhaust fan and a dehumidifier to maintain kitchen environment. I really discovered the need to control things when I started to do multiple 3 gallon batches a day.