Snow candy is delicious, and made by pouring hot maple syrup on a bed of snow. Here’s how you do it in 3 simple steps. Making homemade candy on the snow is a classic winter activity to do with your family in the backyard or in the school yard with the students in class.
If you didn’t know, making maple candy or maple taffy on the snow is a popular winter tradition in Canada. It’s a regular activity at outdoor winter carnivals and at maple syrup festivals in late winter and early spring. This is when the maple trees are tapped, and the sap from the trees is collected in buckets and boiled into maple syrup. It’s made by pouring boiling maple syrup on a clean, fresh bed of snow. The cold snow instantly stops the syrup from cooking, and cools it to the consistency of taffy.
You’ll need:
- 100% pure maple syrup
- Wooden popsicle sticks (also known as craft sticks)
- Clean fresh snow
- Candy Thermometer
How much maple syrup do you need to make maple syrup candy?
The amount really depends on how much candy you want to make. Many recipes call for 2 cups of maple syrup, but that is a LOT of syrup. Be sure the area you locate has fresh clean snow. You want this area to be nice and firm so it holds the hot syrup. Alternatively, you could fill a platter or a baking sheet with a layer of packed down snow.
1. Pour your syrup into a small pot and heat it until boiling. Once boiling, the syrup will start to bubble. Using a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature, continue to boil the syrup until it reaches the “soft ball” stage (235-240 degrees farenheit). If you pass the soft ball stage, don’t worry. Your candy will just be more crunchy than chewy.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and pour your syrup in lines on the snow. BE CAREFUL. The syrup is VERY hot.
3. Press a craft/popsicle stick into the syrup and then as the syrup is cooling, roll it up around the stick.
There’s more snow coming, so get your ingredients and the next snowfall have some fun with maple taffy treats!
