Maple Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sap
Boil the sap rapidly to prevent quality loss.
Boil down the syrup until it drops from the dipper in broad drops, like honey.
Strain the syrup through a wooden strainer into a clean barrel.
Let it stand for 8 to 10 hours to settle.
Finish the syrup
In a 14-gallon iron kettle, fill it two-thirds full with syrup.
Stir in 2 beaten eggs.
Heat over the fire.
Remove scum as it rises when boiling.
Dip out syrup until it can't be boiled over.
When it reaches a soft wax consistency, return the dipped syrup in small quantities until all is returned.
Maintain a good fire throughout the process.
To test, drop syrup into water; if it snaps like rosin, it is done.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Maple sap
- Its sugars concentrate into syrup as water evaporates during boiling.
- Eggs
- Their proteins coagulate when heated, helping to collect and lift scum from the syrup.
The step that matters
Boil down the syrup until it drops from the dipper in broad drops. Sugar concentration rises as water evaporates, and the syrup sets firmly only at high enough sugar levels. Stopping too early leaves thin, watery syrup, while boiling too far can make it crystallize or burn.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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