A Maple Staple

When I was younger, I used to look forward to our local county fair in the summer for many reasons and one of them was maple sugar candy.  At that time, I only got maple candy when I could buy it at the fair.  It is still something I only get a couple of times a year.  I know that you see maple candy in specialty stores fairly commonly now but it isn’t as good.  The commercial mass-market candy that these stores sell is just not the same as freshly made.

The maple candy I got at the fair was produced by a local syrup maker and was sold in an area called The Country Store along side some of his other maple products.  They do not sell it in that area anymore but there is a couple of places to get the good stuff.  The maple candy you buy in a specialty store tends to be much harder, more crystallized, and less flavorful.  I prefer the softer bite of the variety I grew up with.  It literally melts in your mouth, pooling maple goodness onto your tongue.  It was a treat a was willing to spend my own hard earned money on and I usually tried to stock up at the end of the fair.  It never lasted very long.

Now, I am lucky enough to have a brother who makes his own maple syrup and maple candy.  Every year for Christmas, he gives me a nice tin of maple candies and many years a gallon of syrup as well.  The past couple of years he has skipped the syrup but only because I was having a hard time using it up and had started to get a stock pile.

For most people, real maple syrup is an expensive treat and not a burden.  Too much maple syrup is certainly not the worst problem so I am not complaining.  If it is every something that happens to you, I have a few suggestions.  In addition to making pancakes, waffles and French toast a bigger part of your diet, I have added maple syrup to homemade bread, pies and bowls of oatmeal, plus I found recipes for maple popcorn and maple granola.  I also repacked it in gift bottles and did some re-gifting.  The only thing left to do is find a way to use it outside of the kitchen... maple facial anyone?