Maple Sugar

[themapleking]

Has anyone made- maple sugar? Need to know how its done? Can't find any information on it.

[Brian]

Pure Vermont Granulated Indian Sugar is produced by super heating the syrup and stirring until the syrup"explodes" into crumbs. Recipe: Heat the syrup to around 260 deg. Remove from from heat and continue stirring until granulated.

Themapleking, this is copyed from The Official Vermont Maple Cookbook. I hope this helps you out. I have not ever made any so i can't offer any more help. :)

[brookledge]

I'm assuming your talking about granulated sugar. If so you need to boil your syrup to about 260 plus or minus a few degrees. Then stir until all the moisture is gone it will become crumbly you can the sift it if you want to get uniformity. then store in an air tight container.
If you are talking about maple sugar like a block or a cube then you need to boil to 248 degrees plus or minus a few degrees. then as soon as it reaches temp start stirring until it begins to crystalize then pour into your mold. This is how most people made sugar in the old days for use in cooking. Again keep stored in a air tight container

[mapleman9000]

I made a pint sized batch last night. Everything seemed to go well. I have come up with several questions though. First, I used grade B syrup, it did not seem to affect the taste or quality, is this all right to do. It was just a little lighter than would have been with lighter syrup. Secondly, what is the going rate for sugar. I remember buying it and it is quite expensive. I really have no idea what to charge for it if I find an outlet for it. It was really amazing to watch it change from liquid to sugar almost instantly. I think everyone should try it!

Gerry

For what it's worth, I've always made maple sugar by heating to 40-45 degrees above the boiling point of water and stirring until the moisture is gone and then sifting for uniformity. Always seems to work out great for me. I am sure that I got this method from reading it somewhere else. I suppose if I waited until the temp was 260 before removing it from the heat, I'd just have to stir it less.... I assume the results are the same.

[katmike]

I've made maple sugar before and thought I'd try a new approach. I thought I'd be abe to identify the point that it should "explode" into crumbs rather easily, so yesterday I tried to make a batch out of a quart of syrup from last year (without the thermometer). Well I am sure you know what happens next, puffs up smoke come from under the boil.... if you're familiar with the boiling mud pots at Yellowstone NP, that 's pretty much what I had going. And of course I didn't have sugar, I had something that looked at first like fudge (yes it was that dark)..... :x

I at least had to taste it, but of course I had burnt sugar....went straight to the garbage can.

Learned a lesson though... and the wife was a little dismayed at the sight of the bottom of her pan

Mike

[MapleLady]

LOL I did that the first time I decided to start making candy. My grandmother loved maple candy but boy did I overstir it. In fact I stirred so long I bent my favorite spoon. This year I'm going to try a mixer as my hands won't let me stir that long.

Deb

[Jim Brown]

I heard the question about two or three replies ago but still no answer. What is the going rate for maple granular sugar?
Thanks
Jim

[brookledge]

I charge $7.00 for 10oz. and $4.00 for 6oz. that is put up in clear plastic container with shaker top. I might raise those prices this year but haven't decided yet.
Keith

[Jay]

Made some maple sugar, it looks like brown sugar and is a pain in the A## to sift, could I let it dry and then put it in a food proceser to make it granular? Does anyone have any good sifting ideas they use? Thanks ahead of time, Jay

[tstew]

i've used a flour sifter in the past and had good luck with it. Hope this helps

[Sugarmaker]

Jay,
This may not be the best method but works for me. I have tried sifting sugar and it is a real pain.
Try the electric food processor with some type of a bottom blade attachment.
This worked great and beat the stuff to a nice sugar. Took all of 20 seconds.
Chris