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To Make Maple Sugar

A method for producing maple sugar from maple sap and skim milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Make Maple Sugar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Evaporate the sap in iron kettles over a fire until reduced to about 1 gallon.

  2. Strain the syrup through a flannel bag to remove impurities.

  3. Let the syrup settle in deep vessels for 2-3 days.

  4. Carefully remove the syrup, leaving sediments behind.

Clarify and concentrate

  1. Add 1 pint of skim milk to 8-9 gallons of syrup in the kettle.

  2. Slowly heat the syrup to allow impurities to rise to the surface.

  3. Skim off the impurities.

  4. Evaporate the syrup to the desired consistency, testing by cooling small amounts.

Cool and drain

  1. Remove from heat and either stir until cool to make dry sugar or pour into a tub to cool without stirring.

  2. Drain the molasses from the sugar by drawing a plug from the bottom of the tub.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 dissolved sugars are concentrated by evaporation to become the sugar itself.
Skim milk
Its proteins help bind impurities so they rise to the surface and can be skimmed off.

The step that matters

Evaporate the syrup to the desired consistency, testing by cooling small amounts.. Sugar boils to a much higher concentration than the syrup is ready for, so the cook must check small cooled samples. Overcooking yields a hard, grainy mass, while undercooking leaves it too wet to set into dry sugar.

“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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