Leland, You are remembering correctly. It's called "Sugar on Snow" and,
apparently, is a VT & NH thing. My sister-in-law who grew up about 50
miles to the south in Holyoke, MA had never heard of it till she moved here.
Here's how it works: Sap is boiled till it reaches 220 degrees, at which
time enough water has evaporated to make a thicker syrup. That's Maple
syrup, wt. 13.2 lb/gal. It's too thin to set on top of the snow. For that
it is boiled further, I'm not sure of the temp as I haven't made any in
years I'll have to ask, I think about 230 degrees. This is drizzled on a
container of snow, usually a small pan. It quickly hardens before it has a
chance to sink into the snow. You pick it off with a fork and eat it.
Usually served with a dill/sour pickle for obvious reasons. Another
popular accompaniment is plain donuts for some reason.
Today I made the next stage, soft sugar. Boil the syrup down further, to
240 degrees, then stir briskly for quite a while, until it start to grain,
and quickly pour into a container. This is used as a topping for ice
cream, or whatever you want to put it on. Dad likes it on his cereal. I'm
not sure how successful this will be as I think I stirred it a bit too long
and it is harder than I had intended. Here again I hadn't made any in
years.
The last stage is hard sugar. This is boiled down to about 248 degrees and
stirred then poured VERY quickly into molds. This is the little cakes of
Maple sugar, often shaped like a Maple leaf, that are sold in the tourist
traps here in VT. I don't even know how much they get for these today,
probably upwards of $2 for about half an ounce of sugar.
It's all 100% Maple sugar unless someone adds something, which there's no
need for, it's just a matter of how long it's boiled.
Hope this clears up some of the mystery. Ruth
At 3:43 PM -0400 3/28/08, Leland Torrence wrote:
>Hey Ruth,
>I have an unclear memory of us boiling syrup and pouring it on the snow to
>make a maple candy. Does that sound familiar?
>Best,
>Leland
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Ruth Barton
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Dummerston, VT
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