How to Make Maple Sugar

Making your own maple sugar at home is incredibly easy and only takes a few minutes. We've made it easier than ever with this simple trick.

Course Condiment, sauce

Cuisine American

Prep Time 0

Cook Time 15

Stirring time 2

Total Time 17

Servings tablespoons

Calories 40kcal

Cost $20

Ingredients

1 quart maple syrup

Instructions

Pour syrup into a large pot with high sides. It will be boiled vigorously so make sure you have a large enough pot.
Boil over medium-high heat on your stove. Do not stir the syrup at this point. You can add a bit of butter to reduce the foam, but just make sure you use a deep pot.
Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature. Remember, it needs to be 45-50° F above the boiling point of water at your elevation. Use the link below to determine what temp that is. It should take less than 15 minutes for the hot syrup to come to temp. We are less than 1000 feet, so we take ours to about 260°F
Once you have reached that temp, turn off the heat or remove it from an electric burner. You can either start to stir at this point or allow it to cool to about 200°F, according to the above referenced bulletin from Cornell.
We wait for it to cool a bit but at this stage the liquid is till very hot so wear an apron and heat resistant gloves to avoid burns. Also, work carefully to avoid splatters to your face.
Once it cools a bit, start stirring the syrup. If you stir by hand, it will take 15-20 minutes to granulate. As the syrup hardens it will become increasingly difficult to stir. We prefer pouring the liquid into the Kitchenaid mixer bowl, with the paddle attachment and letting the tool do all of the hard work. Use a low speed. Unless you are doing a small quantity, you will want a commercial grade machine.
Now there will be some chunks so you want to strain it trough a fine mesh sieve to remove some of them. Stainless steel will be the best to use. If you let the sugar air dry, you can sift once more to minimize clumping, in a low humidity environment.
If chunks still remain, once the sugar has dried a bit, run some of the larger chunks through your food processor to break them up.

Notes

Did you know that water boils at different temperatures at different elevations? You need to check the boiling point of water at your elevation. Just enter your zip code.

Be sure to heat the syrup to the proper temperature. We are only 400 feet above sea level so water boils at 212°F (100°C) for us. So we heat syrup to about 260°F (125°C).

Spread sugar out on a baking sheet and let it air dry for an hour or so, in a low humidity environment (February and March is perfect when the heat is on). Once the sugar has dried a bit, run some of the larger chunks through your food processor to break them up.

One quart (1 liter) of syrup yields about 2 pounds ( 1 kilogram), or one quart, of granulated sugar.

Pour the sugar into an airtight container, we use mason jars with the two part lid and store at room temperature.

See article above for great ways to use maple sugar.

Nutrition