maple kettle corn

[markct]

on the way back from bascoms last thursday we stopped at harlow sugarhouse in putney vt, real nice people, the lady saw us pull in with the plastic tank in the bed of the truck and knew right away we were sugarers and invited us in to see there evaporator room. after checking out there setup we wandered around there little store and bought some maple kettle corn, it was great stuff, i would love to make some myself and was curious how this is done, it seems that just drizzling maple syrup over popcorn would leave it so sticky it would be messy to eat. is it drizzled on then cooked, of partly cooked then drizzled?

[lpakiz]

Funny this thread should start at just this time. I did figure out how to make regular kettle corn in an aluminum 3 QT pan a few months ago. Yesterday I tried with maple syrup. For my 3QTpan, I use 1/3 cup of frozen popcorn seeds and about 2 tablespoons white sugar. I get the oil smoking hot (if your wife is around, she will tell you when that occurs!!) Then I pour the frozen seeds into the oil, remove from heat and set the timer for 60 seconds to let the kernals "cook". Then return the pan to heat. I add the white sugar about one second before I figure the first kernal will pop. (maybe 15-20 seconds?)
Yesterday I tried about 1/6 cup of maple syrup. TOO MUCH!!! (Probably was about 3 tablespoons.) Next time I will try it with about half that. I was also thinking about trying it with less than 66 brix syrup, but feared the clash between hot oil and water. Has anyone tried it with just dry maple sugar?? I don't even know how to make it--maybe someone here could enlighten me on how to make maple sugar granules...