maple candy question

[piano226]

HI,
I made maple candy yesterday but the end product has a granular texture. What did I do wrong?

Thanks

[cjs]

Marina, I'm pulling from my childhood now, but I just don't make candy so don't have much nowadays experience! when I was a kid making the fudge recipe from the back of the cocoa box my mother always said not to stir the candy much at all because it would be grainy. Make sense?

[piano226]

kind of makes sense BUT...the recipe says...stir constantly until the temp gets to 190 degrees...so i am sooooooooo confused

[Dismc]

I don't know but my reading of the recipe is to let the candy cool to 190 degrees and then stir constantly. The notes say to not even remove the thermometer as that is too much movement when cooling.

[esgunn]

I have never made it, but this is what I found. With fudge, I know if you don't get it hot enough it will be grainy.

We would recommend starting with about a cup of grade A maple syrup (Vermont is good for authenticity's sake, but not a necessity). Pour it into a large--larger than you think you need--heavy saucepan and set over high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side
and whatever you do, don't stir. Stirring can cause the sugar to crystallize prematurely (you want to the sugar to crystallize only after it's reached the correct temperature). Cook to 238 degrees F and take off of the heat. With a wooden spoon, stir the mixture until it changes consistency--it will become grainy instead of glossy, lighten in color and foam up a bit--it will take about five minutes. Pour it onto pan lined with parchment or foil and let cool. Cut into very small pieces and enjoy.

[cjs]

Oh my mother was/is one smart cookie!!!!

[iBcookin]

I'm not sure what you were looking for, but the maple sugar candy that I am familiar with around here is the texture of sugar, hence, granular. I've never had maple sugar that was creamy. Perhaps you were thinking of maple fudge?

I don't stir when it is boiling. After I have removed it from the heat, it rests, then I stir until it starts to drag and you can feel the crystals forming.

[firechef]

Yeah, the only stirring is during the cool down to about 190F as it cools from about 240F...then pour out into my Maple Leaf and Indian Head molds and let it be...never had creamy maple sugar candy.

[Lorraine]

" maple sugar that was creamy. "

I buy two kinds in Quebec. One is hard, clear, and shiny. The other has a creamy color and testure.

[firechef]

The stuff I make and have always eaten in Vermont and Quebec is kind of "granular" and sugary in texture and appearance. I have made a "hard candy" type of thing in the past as well and flavoured other types candies as well.