Traps to Avoid If You Want Perfect Maple Sugar Candy
Maple sugar candy is one of Nature's little-known gifts. It is three times sweeter than cane sugar. Maple syrup is only that rich in sugar because it takes 43 gallons of maple sugar sap to make one gallon of syrup.
Making maple sugar candy at home is extremely rewarding...as long as you can avoid wasting many jugs of maple syrup trying to get it to turn out right. One common mistake is that people think making maple sugar is just like making fudge. Here are a couple tricks I learned that result in less frustration and more great maple candy every time.
First, don't use a marble slab for cooling maple sugar candy. It works great for fudge—maybe even for maple fudge—but maple candy is a different bird. A medium or small salad bowl works best for cooling and stirring.
Now that you're using the bowl, never ever stop stirring once you've started. You've probably noticed that fudge cools off and hardens up slowly. But if you've ever made maple sugar candy, you'll know that the maple reaches a point where it just seizes up and becomes solid. In a nutshell, stir until the maple is completely hardened and is very light in color.
Also, don't put the finished maple candy in a container until it has cooled off completely. It gives off steam for more than an hour, and condensation can build up.
