Maple Sugar

A hell of a lot more work that it seems, I finally have maple sugar to work with!

1L of maple syrup, 5 hours of work, 3 boil overs, and 2 broken wooden spoons later...

I didn't get a chance to take pictures during the cooking process...kinda got scared shitless a couple times during the boil overs. If you do decide to try this, USE A BIG POT. I first used a pot that could hold double the volume I was cooking thinking that would be large enough. After 3 boil overs I switched to a pot 4x the size and it just fit.

Without stiring, heat your maple syrup on high heat until it reaches 124.5C. Let cool on wire rack for 90 secoonds, then place pot in an ice bath for 1 minute. Remove, and slowly stir using a wooden spoonfrom the outside in. As it begins to crystalize, stir a little faster (here's where I broke my spoons). The mass of sugar should begin to come together and almost feel like moist brown sugar. Once the texture is reached dump out contents on a sheet pan and let rest over night (sounds easy eh? Took me a good 1.5 hrs to get it all out of my pot...). Do not refrigerate, as it will absorb moisture. 

Recipe said to put the sugar in a food processor to reduce to a fine sugar...yeah this jammed my food processor. Had to use a hammer and chisel to break apart the larger pieces and use a spice grinder to get it into powder form.

Store in air tight container for 4 to 5 months. Yield: 525g granulated maple sugar. 150g maple sugar nuggets.

After crystallizing in the pot, this is what you get. Rock hard maple sugar blocks

Granulated Maple Sugar

Maple Sugar Nuggets