granulated sugar ??????

[maplefrank]

wondering how others make sugar???? I end up having small chunks.....I tried putting it through an old coffe grinder, any other suggestions on what to do??? And what grades do people use, I tried some grade B

[ennismaple]

We sift the fine stuff from the chunks and sell the chunks separately. I needed, we'll run the chunks through a food processor. We generally use dark syrup to make our granulated.

[lew]

When we make ours, we take it to 252-254 degrees and dump it in our old style cream machine and turn it until it granulates. Usually I use a hand mixer to help it along also. I want it to get granulated ASAP. Then while it is still warm I push it through a screen and get zero chunks IF I have not boiled it to too high a temperature and not let it cool to long. For this reason I only boil 1 gallon at a time. If I can't get it all through because it is too dry, I will boil 1-2 degrrees less the next batch.

[KenWP]

Last batch I made I ended up with some nice chunks as I could not find the screen anywhere in the house and had to fianlly break down and ask she who must be obeyed where it was at 2 in the morning. So it got cool on me and I had some nice chunks to eat also. Not a problem actually as I can give them away as candy.

[maplefrank]

maybe i'm boiling it too long..........i went to 260...........i will try again soon, maybe with a dif. grade......

[ennismaple]

I'll have to try what Lew said and only boil to about 255. I've been taking ours to 260. We do have some demand for the chunks but not as much as the fine granulated.

[lew]

I use to think that I was trying to get all the water out of the syrup to produce granulated. This is not the case. You are only trying to the syrup to granulate. Those of you that make this product know what it looks like when it is granulating. It kind of puffs up and loses the last of it's water during the phase change from liquid to solid. It will of course do this at higher temperatures, like 260, but it is so dry at that point that it is almost impossible, in my experience, to get it through a screen quick enough before it hardens. If you only boil it to 252 to 254 (those temps are good for my thermometer at my altitude) it gives you a fine product that you can get through a screen.

[lew]

One thing I have noticed with temp. is that the higher the temperature, the finer the grain and the more quickly it will granulate. If you try it at lower temps, have some patience. At first it might seem that it is not going to granulate. It may just look like a large chunk of sugar. That is why I use the hand held mixer in conjuntion with the old style cream machine. While the cream machine is turning, I use the mixer to help break up the large chunk of soft sugar. I believe this helps to get the excess water out by giving the sugar a little more surface area by greaking it up into smaller chunks repeatedly. If you should try this, you will notice after a few minutes of beating, what appears to be wet granulated sugar that starts to stick wherever the beater throws it then it disappears into the wetter sugar. This means you are almost done. Keep at it. In a matter of minutes the whole batch will be granulated. At this point I pull the paddles out of the cream machine and let it continue to spin while I use the mixer to finish breaking up the chunks of granulated sugar. This should take as minute or less. Then it is taken over to my screen and pushed through, large chunks and all. If you do it quick enough, you can get 100% through. The key is to do it fast. That is why I only do 1 gallon batches. Any larger and I have problems getting the last of it through.

[802maple]

I also tend to boil to 255 or 256 if I use a thermometer, but most of the time I just go by a certain bubble formation that I am looking for.

[ennismaple]

Interesting... When I take it to 260 and start stirring right away it will start to rapidly bubble up as I stir it. If you slow down it'll bubble over. After it's done bubbling in a few minutes it starts to quickly go granular. If I stir constantly when it's drying out there are very few chunks. If I leave it and stir every few minutes there are more chunks. Eventually it dries right up and all the heat is out and I leave it for a while to cool down - then I screen out the chunks. If it's too warm it won't go through the screen.

[lew]

ennis

Mine won't go through a screen either if it is warm and I am just trying to sift it. It has to cool and totally dry for this to happen. If you go this route you will end up with all sorts of chunks. What I am suggesting you do is to push it through the screen while it is warm, soft and somewhat "wet". I use a solid metal hamburger flipper. If it hasn't cooled of too much you push 100%through.

[ennismaple]

Thanks for the tip!

[maplefrank]

wondering what people charge for sugar???? a friend told us he got little glass pepper shakers with handles. we found some at the dollar store, have'nt found out how much they hold yet......

[Ausable]

wondering what people charge for sugar???? a friend told us he got little glass pepper shakers with handles. we found some at the dollar store, have'nt found out how much they hold yet......

Is there a demand for maple sugar? Is it just a novelty item? This is interesting how things always seem to come around again - years ago I read that prior the American Revolution when the English controlled most of the shipping and trade in and out of North America - the early settlers made their own maple sugar and were not really interested in making syrup because of storage and transportation difficulty and that after the Revolution when America had control over its own ships - cheap cane sugar was available and maple sugar making all but died out. Then a taste for maple syrup really developed and maple syrup making became popular and profitable.......not an accurate account of history ---but a very rough one......Mike

[KenWP]

Maple sugar got popular here due to WW1 and WW2 due to the quota system for white sugar for the war effort. There was no restriction on maple so they started to make more and more of it. A lot of Quebecois use it almost totally for cooking around here. The one fellow close by says his family uses 20 gallons a year just for themselves.

[Ausable]

Thanks for the information Ken - I'd never heard that before. For the same reason (WW1 and WW2) in Michigan - sugar production from sugar beets really took off and still goes on till this day. Cost more then sugar cane - but - can be done locally. Personally - I like maple syrup better - gotta try maple sugar.

[Ausable]

Just remembered something - During WW2 - I was a little guy living in Cleveland, Ohio and I always remembered standing in line with my Mom and years later I asked her why we were always waiting in lines so much and it was because of food ration laws on certain items ---- like Sugar -- so I bet it went on here in Michigan to and a lot of other places in Canada and the States - folks just kept it quiet.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

The change from flat pans to an evaporator occurred on our farm in 1942, at a time when almost no steel could be had for domestic uses. The manufacture and sale of maple syrup evaporators was encouraged to help alleviate the sugar shortage.

[Ausable]

The change from flat pans to an evaporator occurred on our farm in 1942, at a time when almost no steel could be had for domestic uses. The manufacture and sale of maple syrup evaporators was encouraged to help alleviate the sugar shortage.


Hey - thanks for that information - another thing I never heard before. Was it a member of your family who came up with the idea for the evaporator? Excuse my ignorance - but - I had no idea when the first syrup evaporator was made and who designed and made it. --- Mike

[batsofbedlam]

I think the first evaporator was made by Grimm out in Ohio.

[maplefrank]

Production methods have been streamlined since colonial days, yet remain basically the same. Sap must first be collected and boiled down carefully to obtain pure syrup without chemical agents or preservatives. Maple syrup was made by boiling approximately forty gallons (160 l) of sap over an open fire until one gallon (4 l) of syrup was obtained. This process underwent little change over the first two hundred years of recorded maple syrup making. Around the time of the American Civil War, syrup makers started using a large flat sheet metal pan as it was more efficient for boiling than a heavy rounded iron kettle which let much of the heated air slide past.
Virtually all syrup makers in the past were self-sufficient dairy farmers who made both syrup and sugar for their own use and for extra income. The process continued to evolve as a result of the innovations developed in their work. In 1864, a Canadian borrowed some design ideas from sorghum evaporators and put a series of baffles in the flat pans to channel the boiling sap. In 1872 a Vermonter developed an evaporator with two pans and a metal arch or firebox which greatly decreased boiling time. Seventeen years later, in 1889, another Canadian bent the tin that formed the bottom of a pan into a series of flues which increased the heated surface area of the pan and again decreased boiling time.

i found this in wikipedia.....:)

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Sorry for the misunderstanding...1942 was when our farm had its first evaporator, not when the first evaporator was made. I think the first "flues" were merely bends in the bottom of a pan.

[Hurry Hill Farm]

Maple Frank,

Nice history info on this topic. Didn't see anyone answer your question re: the price of sugar. We charge $12/lb and $7/ 1/2 lb in freezer zip locs (qt and pint sizes). You can do the math - 7 lbs to the gallon: therefore, $84/gallon and simple to make with the proper mixer. Label it on front side and then include this recipe on the back side.

Maple Whip

4 oz pure maple crumb sugar
8 oz cool whip
8 oz cream cheese

Whip with mixer.

Serve as a dip for fresh fruit slices, topping for crackers or waffles etc

Refrigerate. Freezes, refreezes well.

fyi ziplocs keep sugar well. Those shakers from $gen do not. You should seal sugar tight. You can get new canning jars and good shaker lids that have seals from dealers. The batch I have are green lids.

Crumb is the "new" cream in value added products - people love it once you get them to taste the whip. It is probably the most popular product I sell.

Good luck.

Jan Woods
Hurry Hill Farm
Edinboro PA

[maplefrank]

just tried the maple whip............it is wonderful!!!!!!!!