Vermont Maple Candy: Big Flavor, Small Slice of New England
Vermont maple candy gives you a taste of New England unlike anything else (except for maybe clam chowder and lobster!). Of course, the main ingredient is Vermont maple syrup, but there are a few different kinds of candies you can buy or brew up yourself.
Maple syrup is a big part of Vermont culture. It makes the most maple syrup of any state, and produced 460,000 gallons of maple syrup last year. By contrast, Maine produces the next largest amount, at 300,000 gallons of Maine maple syrup. That was worth $13,340,000. Maple sugaring is so important to Vermont that it was the first state to have mandatory maple syrup grading laws.
The most common kind of Vermont maple candy is very easy to find and usually comes in small maple leaf or Christmas tree shapes. Though this variety is extremely tasty, it isn't pure maple syrup because there is ordinary sugar added to it. It's made by a process of heating up the maple to a special temperature and introducing air into it.
Another common kind of maple candy is called "maple fudge". This is actually a lot like chocolate fudge, and usually is made with sugar, cream, and butter. Like normal fudge, this is usually sold in big blocks or little squares.
As you could expect, the truest Vermont maple candy comes from pure Vermont maple syrup. Pure maple candy is made similar to how the kind that has sugar added to it is made. But unlike the kind with added sugar, the only ingredient here is maple syrup, yet it tastes quite a bit sweeter.
One nice traditional touch to maple candy is to give it a sparkling, glittery appearance by dipping a piece of finished maple candy in a vat of pure maple syrup. Contrary to what you might think, the maple candy doesn't melt. Eventually, the natural maple sugars crystallize on the outside of the candy, giving a great sparkle to your already-delicious Vermont maple candies.
