Making Sugar

[Sneakers]

I was scrolling thru YT vids and came across this one. How to make sugar from maple syrup. Ok, might be useful if and when sugar ever disappears from shelves. These folks make their own syrup, and then sugar from that.

"TL:dW" - Bring finished syrup to boil and reach 165*C130*C, stirring all the time. Take it off the heat and use a mixer until it self-crystalizes, continue with the mixer to break up the larger chunks. The end product is pure, maple flavored sugar. Then I'm thinking... I love my maple coffee. Rather than maple-flavored coffee, what if I use maple-flavored sugar with my choice of good coffee?

Hmmm.... starting a batch now....

 

[Gilligan]

I have several friends that harvest maple sap and make syrup. Two of them are in northern Michigan and the other in Vermont. The amount of sap it takes to make syrup is ..a lot. To get from there to sugar..a lot more. Both processes involving a lot of heat. But maple sugar is amazing...

 

[Sneakers]

I have several friends that harvest maple sap and make syrup. Two of them are in northern Michigan and the other in Vermont. The amount of sap it takes to make syrup is ..a lot. To get from there to sugar..a lot more. Both processes involving a lot of heat. But maple sugar is amazing...

Seems like they got a near equal amount of sugar from the volume of syrup, but going to find out..... But yes, the tree sap to syrup process needs lots of liquid.

And he wasn't kidding. Take your eyes off it for 2 seconds..... I made a mess.

 

[Gilligan]

Seems like they got a near equal amount of sugar from the volume of syrup, but going to find out..... But yes, the tree sap to syrup process needs lots of liquid.

And he wasn't kidding. Take your eyes off it for 2 seconds..... I made a mess.

I used to buy syrup from one of my friends up in Michigan. Awesome stuff...he had one variant that was cherry flavored too. I miss that...he retired and none of his kids wanted to take over, considering all the labor involved.

 

[Sneakers]

Done, but still a little damp, so put it in the dehydrator (toaster oven..) to dry some more before I grind it. Smells incredible.

Now to clean up..... ugh.

 

[stgislander]

Takes a lot of water to make a little syrup.

 

[Sneakers]

Finished product. Original container and the yield, and I lost a couple of ounces to the boil-over. Vacuum sealed the jars after taking a bit out for the next few days. Tried using a small food processor, but the result from a spice grinder was much better.

 

[Sneakers]

Ok, the verdict is in. After ruining 2 morning's coffee, I can say that this is one of those, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should". It is sweet, but tastes nothing like maple in the coffee. Kind of off-putting actually, with a bitter after-taste.

Oh well. Anyone want 2 jars of maple powder?