Maple cream granulated

[kkolenz]

Total Newby to all things maple. Thought we would give maple cream a try. Pictures looked great. After about 45 minutes of painful stirring, the mixture was starting to look creamy but with in two more stirs it turned into a dry granulated pot of a maple kind of sugar. What went wrong?

[McAllister farm]

Did you let it cool to room temp in a ice bath? What temp did you take it too?

[wiam]

Sounds like you cooked it too long. I go to 232 for cream. Not cooling in an ice bath would not cause that.

[kkolenz]

Yes, cooled in an ice bath to 95 degrees. I'm thinking I cooked it too long. I checked my thermometer and it seemed to be low at boiling for water. Syrup Temp was at 232 when I went to ice bath. The granulation tastes great so it won't go to waste but would like to try cream again.

[McAllister farm]

You need to check the boiling point of water with your thermometer. For maple cream it needs to be 24 degrees above the boiling point of water

[Sugarmaker]

Yes accurate boiling of the syrup is important. Water boils here at 210F I go to 232 - 234 if I want firmer cream. I would go even cooler before your stir. (I put it in the freezer over night, and then warm it back up in warm water to begin the stirring) Keep the syrup very still while cooling. (any movement can cause crystals to start to form and these big crystals will seed your batch to be all grainy big crystals.
Regards,
Chris