Controlling the size of maple sugar

[miboss]

BACK STORY


Earlier this year I made my first batch of maple sugar. When we made the sugar and sifted/classified it by size (I can't recall the mesh sizes used), we got

1. 80% fine granulated
2. 15% course
3. 5% "pearl"

All the sizes were worked through the sivs and anything that could be broken up, was, so the pieces left couldn't be broken down any more. We did try a small experiment trying to break things down in a food processor, but that resulted in powdered sugar and I didn't like that, so we went with the 3 sizes we made thinking this was normal.

It was a fairly big batch so it lasted for a while until we sold it.


The second time we made sugar, we made 99.9% granulated.


The first batch was mostly unsold candy from last year that we threw in the freezer and didn't look good enough to sell again

The second batch was this years syrup.


THE PROBLEM


We were approached by a restaurant owner wanting a large quantity of the course sugar and now I can't seem to duplicate the process to make it.



Is anyone aware of how to "force" the size of maple sugar? I'm not sure if keeping it on the lower side of the +45-50 (BP of H2O) would help or not. I took both batches to +49, so I'm not sure what else to try.



Thanks,

Mike

[Potters3]

I have made sugar 15 to 20 times and it seems to have more to do with the syrup used. Each batch made from a different run of syrup seems to come out different. Not sure if I am right but the darker the syrup I seem to get courser sugar.

[miboss]

I appreciate the reply. if I recall, I believe I had a bunch of candy made from darker syrup in the first batch.

My second batch was also dark, but right on the border between amber and dark, so darker may be the way to go for course sugar.

[lew]

After boiling, start to stir until crystallization starts to occur. Then stop stirring and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir briefly. Let sit. Stir briefly. Etc. This will give the sugat crystals a chance to grow. That being said, i do not know how big or how much will attain what size. Constant stirring is what keeps one of the readons the sugar crytal size is small and undetecable.

[minehart gap]

It has to do with the invert of the sugar in the syrup. If I recall correctly, the New York State Confection Notebook talks about it in detail. I found a free download of that book about a year ago. Google it. Or the North America Maple Syrup Producers Manual, it was a free download too but I also bought hard copies easier to keep with you.